This past fall, furniture maker Brian Newell moved his family and his shop from Japan to California. Having just moved my own shop and household, but only less than 20 miles in each case, I couldn’t imagine what his experience was like. I asked him if he would describe his move, his time in Japan and his new shop (uncompleted at this point) and he has sent this dispatch (with more to follow as the story unfolds). Brian will be participating in the Purchase conference as part of the College of the Redwoods panel and giving presentations of his work.

Repatriation

For a decade I had a nice comforting routine: finish up work in the backyard woodshop and then stroll down to the little grocery– a near-obsolete relic from the fifties– for a single can of Ebisu beer. I’d exchange comments about the weather with the sad old proprietor and then wander back up the hill, past the giant camphor tree and the little shrine housing some God or other, beyond the newer plastic houses with postage-stamp yards, and finally home to my wife and daughter. It was a lovely walk on the good days, and a good day was usually when I had faith in whatever contraption I was cooking up in the shop. On the faithless days, well, I might do something like dream of moving to America.

As if the supply of faith in America were overflowing.

In September of 2007 the three of us finally made good on our perpetual vow and moved from the suburbs of Tokyo to Fort Bragg, California. Under ordinary circumstances a guy of modest means would have to give up one country in exchange for another: containerize the life in Japan and ship it to the Land of Opportunity, close down the old and set up the new. I avoided the agony of this decision by leaving my workshop almost entirely intact, machines and all, and convincing myself that this non-decision was in fact a wise and potentially fruitful resolution. My shop would be the western anchor (or is it Eastern Anchor?) of a Culture Bridge. Extravaganza. I wouldn’t just go to Japan every year to work, but in my absence the Tokyo shop would provide safe harbor for some eager Japan explorer. Over the years I have met a great many craftspeople who want to explore Japan.

Meantime, the repatriation grinds on. The Eastern Anchor (or is it Western?) isn’t much of an anchor yet, more like a shell filled with big, vague ideas, 20,000 pounds of idle cast iron (no electricity yet) and vacuuming up resources at an alarming pace. I have had to resist the temptation to retreat back to my well-worn bench near the shrine with a case of Ebisu beer.

I have built my new shop in Fort Bragg like I build furniture: no plan, just momentum. And oblivion. Well, the momentum seems to have run out months ago and the oblivion doesn’t help anymore. I don’t remember exactly how satisfying it can be to bandsaw rosewood, but I have a feeling it is satisfying, and maybe this drives me onward. And besides, Japan is inconveniently located. One of the goals of the move was to learn something, and I seem to be succeeding at that. It isn’t all pretty.

I’ve been waiting six months for the electric company to hook me up. Last week I laid (with permission) three-inch conduit in a 240 foot long trench and then filled it in by hand. The few people who came out to check on me were full of pity, which at the time I mistook for admiration. Everybody loves a guy who can dig his own trench, don’t they?

I have a 36 inch bandsaw in pieces, cluttering up the place. I wasn’t going to mess with it, but just accept its ugliness and use it. But the tires had to be dressed, and just before the task was finished the gouge dug in and the tire disintegrated. Well, a new tire meant pulling the wheel, and as long as the wheel was off the bearings ought to be replaced, and if all that stuff is removed, the upper shroud could be stripped and painted, and if you’re going to paint that, you might as well strip and paint the rest. There is a lot of square footage on a 36 inch bandsaw. There is no joy to be found in bandsaw restoration after all.

See Brian’s work here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 6:24 pm and is filed under FS After Hours. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.