Tuesday, May 2nd, 7:00pm

Design without Recipes

Most of us look up a recipe when we want to cook something new in the kitchen. Design is like that. We reach for a set of plans – a recipe before tackling a project. Truth is, designers (and cooks) that are able to create on the fly aren’t winging it. They’ve learned a few basic skills that set them free to create, like understanding proportions, simple shapes, and lines. This is an introduction to designing without recipes. Hopefully, let you a taste of a few of those fundamental design skills that can open up the world of design.

An avid woodworker for decades, like many I started wondering about design. Curiosity led me to dive into historic literature about architecture and furniture design. I began writing about what I was learning until my path crossed with Jim Tolpin. Together, we teamed up and wrote “By Hand & Eye”, which was followed by three more books about design, and a fifth is in progress. Our goal is to uncover the timeless design skills that inspired our ancestors and re-ignite them for modern woodworkers.