Crafting Everyday Tools
Ping Balance Rail (detail) by Wu Hanyen, 2018. Cherry, natural rubber, aluminum, woodturning, woodworking, metal working, 9" x 5½" x 48".
This workshop invites participants to make tools that bring care and attention to our daily rituals. Through woodworking techniques such as shaping, carving, joinery, and turning, we will explore how functional objects can hold meaning, beauty, and intention. Each participant will design and build a one-of-a-kind tool that supports or re-imagines their own practice. By the end of the session, everyone will leave with a handmade tool and a deeper connection to making by hand. All levels welcome.
Wu Hanyen (they/them) is a woodworker and maker based in Providence, RI. Their practice centers on the craft of everyday objects and making things by hand. After five years as a furniture maker in New York City, Wu received an MFA in Furniture Design from the Rhode Island School of Design. They are currently an Associate Professor of Sculpture at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.