I have worked with wood for as long as I can remember. It was always a source of joy and relaxation alongside my career as a professional pilot, where traveling the globe for over 40 years carried me to many corners of the earth. Because of that, vacations taken solely for travel never held much appeal for me. Instead, I sought out learning vacations that inspired and rejuvenated me—and that’s what I pursued throughout those decades.

Along the way, I learned to sail, design, and build boats at Wooden Boat School in Brooklin, Maine; studied green woodworking and Build a Chair from a Tree with J. Alexander in Baltimore, Maryland; and immersed myself in furniture design and upholstered chair making at Rockland, Maine’s Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. I studied guitar making with Ivon Schmukler and built my own classical guitar at the Leeds Guitar Makers School in Southampton, Massachusetts. I turned bowls and pens in Reno, Nevada, and explored countless other tools and techniques in woodworking.

My journey with wood also led me to music. I studied Native American style flute playing with R. Carlos Nakai, learned flute making with Dale Robertson in a small shop inside a Montreal cathedral, and was mentored by the late Maurice Bigham—one of the greatest flute makers I was ever privileged to know and befriend. Truly, if it involved wood, I likely studied its construction and learned at least a little about how to make it.

As I approached retirement and prepared for the next chapter of life, I longed to give my other passion—woodworking—my full attention. I chose to turn that passion into a business, embracing it as my next adventure.

So, I acquired more tools and transformed my garage into a proper climate-controlled workshop, a place where my creativity could flourish. I registered my intentions, filed the paperwork, and set the foundation to begin the business in earnest. The last step was finding the perfect name.

Wanting something lighthearted and fun, yet rooted in the spirit of the craft, I thought back to my New England roots and the legacy of shipbuilders. That’s when the perfect name came to me: KnotWright Woodworking.

(After all, woodworking—and life—are meant to be enjoyed. I don’t take myself too seriously, and I don’t want this business to be anything but a joyful exploration of craft, creativity, and play.)

Robin Bray, The KnotWright