My first work experience in a professional craft setting was with a traditional turner in the UK. Work since then has included furniture making and design, construction and development management, even a stint building canoes. I returned to turning as a counterpoint to the retail development work I was doing. Over the past ten years making bowls has become the focus of my work.

Every wooden bowl starts with a tree. I work primarily with western maple which grows around Nanaimo where I live. Most of the trees I use are removed from urban areas due to disease, age, hazard or development. The logs are cut into slabs, rounds are cut from the slabs, rough turned and cored. Coring uses a special tool to cut one or more bowls from within another. After the drying process the rough bowls are turned to their final form and finished.

I like process – the small details that make my work flow, whether it’s eliminating a step, making a better tool or mastering a technique. To me that’s the craft, and when it flows, when technique, tools and body come together time slips away. The shavings stream off the gouge as it arcs through the blur of spinning wood. The movement is smooth, poised, in balance, hands light on the gouge, eyes on the curve as it bends off the tool, revealing the bowl’s form.

Objects have a certain energy imparted through their making. Sadly, there is a pervasive soullessness about the majority of objects we encounter, mass produced at the least cost – maximum profit, intended for obsolescence and soon to be just another piece of junk. Knowing the provenance of the objects we live with, where they came from, by whom and how they were made enriches our experience. Each bowl I make is the product of my experience and aesthetic, eye, heart and hand, each carries a story in the material and workmanship, each will return to the earth with little trace. Their making is satisfying. And there’s a little soul in each of them. 

If you consider purchasing a bowl, know that to me, they are about more than the object. They are about fostering community, treading more lightly on the planet, creating a more sustainable economy, preserving hand skills and making things that last. In doing something I enjoy, in a small way, I hope to bring joy to you.

Thanks, Corin