DIY Underground: America's Hidden Communities of Craftsmen

Warehouse Woodworkers

Where: Brooklyn, N.Y.

It all started with a tight spot crying out for a credenza. Pete Raho needed furniture that would fit into his tiny Brooklyn apartment, and when he couldn't find anything at Ikea, he realized he needed to make it himself. Except that he didn't have tools. Or a shop. Or woodworking skills.

Raho found all three at Makeville Studio, a Gowanus shop where he honed his craftsmanship capabilities. After finishing the credenza, Raho began working with a teacher from Williamsburg's 3rd Ward, a cluster of warehouses and fabrication shops with a curriculum full of technical classes. The instructor, David Yepez, founded the furniture company David Alexander Designs. Raho and Yepez clicked. The teacher suggested that Raho tweak a new bike-rack design by replacing a simple butt joint with a more sophisticated spline, and Raho, an MBA, helped Yepez convert his back-of-the-envelope business plan to a more evolved cash-flow system. "I'm not a master craftsman and I'll never be one," Raho says of his furniture-making. "What I bring to it is a clever design that solves a problem a lot of people have."

The 3rd Ward is just part of a burgeoning furniture scene in Brooklyn. Pros like Jonah Zuckerman design and build stunning dining tables, Nate Shellkopf uses reclaimed longleaf yellow pine to reproduce historic brownstone doors, and the retailer Tools for Working Wood has any marking gauge or bow saw a craftsman could need. The work finds an audience at annual events such as BKLYN Designs and at the weekly Brooklyn Flea, a DIY bonanza that serves as many new builders' debut marketplace. Some of those rookies are one-time office workers who changed careers during the recession. "I could try to find another 9-to-5 job," says Raho. "But it would be much more fun to be covered in sawdust every day."
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