One of my favorite parts of my job is when the piece is all completed and I take it to the customer and they’re just ecstatic about actually seeing it and touching it. That is the best part of what I do.
I grew up in Goshen and went to high school and college there. Met my wife at Goshen College. We did actually move away for me to attend grad school. It was out in Ohio, where my wife is from. I was going for a social work degree. The intention was to live there a year and then go to grad school and get the cheaper rates. I worked in a woodshop out there. The guy hired me knowing that I had no experience in woodworking at that time. Just within the year that we lived there, I found this love of woodworking, so I scrapped that whole master’s program and we moved back to Goshen. Initially, we moved back for family reasons and cost-of-living-type things.
Over the past 10 years, the art community has really exploded around here with music and physical art and dramas. All of that I’ve been very impressed with. Back when I was growing up, maybe I didn’t notice it, but it just didn’t seem to be as vibrant as it’s been in recent years here. I love that – the college music center and the stuff that they do there, the downtown art stuff, and of course Arts on the Millrace. The first year I went there, I was just shocked at how awesome that was as far as the artists and the number of people who came through. With the downtown, the First Fridays, the places to eat and shop, it’s just recently been very awesome, I think. It’s great.”