Pete is in the very enviable position of living in a city where there is a built-in clientele for custom woodworking. New York City, particularly Manhattan, seems somewhat insulated from the economic trouble of the rest of the United States. Pete owns a 5000 square foot shop in an 'up and coming' area of Brooklyn, where he rents out space to other woodworkers as well cranks out various custom commissions with his own business, Heilman Design.
The morning I was there the guys were just loading a completed project in a van. Everyone was busy working on something so I just wandered around snapping pics.
Pete has been working for months on a cabinet to house medical journals. He's been picking away at it between other work. It looks to be near completion.
Pete recently moved his personal area upstairs - to be closer to the ping pong table maybe? While the bulk of the machine work goes on in the machine room downstairs, he moved a mini-max five-in-one upstairs as well. It's a nice little machine, and eliminates the need for him to run up and down the stairs for incidental machine work.
The machine room downstairs has all the usual stuff plus a 12" jointer, 10" cabinet saw, and two big sliding tablesaws.
The big daddy Northfield jointer got a complete re-haul when it showed up at the shop, and purrs like a kitten now. Pete said that blade changes are a real source of frustration though. I like the ship-wheel depth adjustment.
The front of the building is currently getting a sharp new facade made of Sapele and glass.
10 comments:
wow 5000sqft? the rent must be astronomical. looks like he's living the dream fo realz...does that mean theres hope for the rest of us?
Well, maybe there's hope if you move to New York! Pete actually owns the building and rents space to 3 or 4 other woodworkers, which brings him some revenue. He also bought the building a few years back when the area was still pretty ghetto, and property was cheaper.
kinda sounds like the area where my shop is in, everyone was like...you SURE you wanna move your stuff into there? meanwhile all these lofts are sprouting up along artist galleries...
Yeah, you see that everywhere these days - former seedy industrial areas going residential. Pete told me that the first thing you see are artists moving in and then gay people shortly afterward. Finally you see baby strollers, and then it's official - it's a trendy area. I thought that was funny.
Haha how right that is! there are tons of prominent artists and big-ish montreal bands that jam in my building, its not just woodworkers, there are tons of other types of professions going on in there, it's pretty sweet! Just sucks that its on the other side of the island for me..
Holy shit I am blown away by how his shop has developed! I remember him sending pictures of the place before he renovated it. It looks so good! The light is amazing and everything. And they have some pretty kick ass machines as well. Tell Pete to swap out the Northfield head and get and get a Tersa or Shelix one. It's good to see Pete also has his pipes (bicepts) still. I also saw Luna in one shot too.
Man that is some inspiring shit. Thanks for posting that stuff Cody.
It is inspiring, I'm glad I had a chance to go back and see the shop again. Pete recently came into a sweet score of recycled timbers too. The Coney Island boardwalk was recently rebuilt and all the original planking and joists were sold off for cheap. Pete got 1100 linear feet of 2x4 Ipe, as well as a bunch of 3x12 joists, also Ipe. He had a commission to build a bunch of planters with it but once he started milling it and saw how nice it was he decided to save it for furniture.
Oh! And we went out to Pritnam & Eames in the Hamptons one day too. What a crock of shit that place is. It's about the size of my bathroom, has almost nothing in it, and seems to put more emphasis on stupid shit like Judy Kensley McKie's ridiculous stuff.
i just googled Judy Kensley McKie, and saw "painted mahogany", how??? i bet it sells for tends of thousands too.
My personal favorite of those builders is Craig Nutt. His vegetable forms are oh so clever and witty! He is my hero. And of course the ever talented Gary Knoxx Bennet. My friend Brad says it best when he says that these guys actually "offend" him. I agree completely.
Yah I have actually not seen many pieces at Pritam (online that is) that interested me in the least. Brian's are about it.
I have a theory that the most elusive attribute in this world of woodworking is TASTE.
"I have a theory that the most elusive attribute in this world of woodworking is TASTE."
AMEN!
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