About Us

Nick was taught to swing a hammer and countless other tools by his Dad, his grandfathers and his Uncles Dan and Don of Roberts Brothers Farms. In theatre school at the University of Illinois, he used these skills to begin working in the scene shop, under the tutelage of Kenny Egan. This paid off handsomely when Nick began his professional theatre career in Chicago, as he offset his meager acting income with building scenery and props for large equity theaters. By the time he moved to Los Angeles, he’d opened his own modest shop in a warehouse and begun collecting tools. Once in LA, Nick couldn’t find as much scenery work, so he turned to building decks and cabins with his longtime friend Martin McClendon, another Illinois alumnus. Together, they fell under the spell of old-world furniture joinery, and, with Marty’s help, Nick opened his shop soon after, where he continues to build furniture, small boats, and anything else that tickles his fancy.

For the latest on Nick's writing and performance work, check out his personal website.

Matt started sweeping the floors and cleaning the bathroom at OWS back in January of 2012. Having no real woodworking experience other then light carpentry and set construction he was lucky enough to learn on the job from the team. Many spotless toilets later, he is now the Floor Technician managing the making of all the store products, taking care of machine and shop maintenance, and helping build custom furniture. Matty’s favorite thing to work on is slab furniture and doing his best to honor the tree from which it came. Teaching woodworking is also a passion as he runs many workshops for adults and youth via Allied Woodshop in downtown Los Angeles. Matty is also an actor, musician, tap dancer, and WWII history buff.

Originally from nearby Cerritos, California, Krys has been working with wood since high school shop class. Krys’ first ever woodworking project was a hand-carved unicorn for grandma–so it’s no surprise that Krys’ journey at OWS has lead her to developed as a talented carver, finisher and customizer. Krys has a gift for both revealing wood’s organic shapes and channeling the inner tree spirits of any old stump or 2×4.

Krys also unofficially chairs our committee on staff morale and smiling.

Although Thomas most recently hung his hat in Cambridge, MA, his love for wood originated in the Southeast where he attended timber harvesting expos in Alabama and Georgia from a tender age. A mid-childhood move back to the family farm in Kentucky only fueled that fire, as he began spending his afternoons and weekends helping his father with selection logging in the wooded land on the farm and with many different restoration and construction projects. Somewhere in said childhood, whether while building furniture for his stuffed animals or helping mill logs on his neighbor’s Wood-Mizer, Thomas became interested in woodworking. Although his trajectory from Kentucky to OWS has been less than logical and certainly far from predictable, he arrived there nonetheless, solidly underqualified to work in such a shop, but eager to build on his rather rustic abilities. Outside of the shop, Thomas enjoys whiskey, whisky, opera, and bowties.

Lee began working with wood at age seven through the Kids Carpentry program in her hometown of Berkeley, CA. Years later, while studying art and philosophy at Brown University (BA ’00), she built sets for the college theater. Lee worked as a scenic carpenter and instructor of scenic arts before eventually moving into building interactive science exhibits for the Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco.

Lee moved to Los Angeles in 2008 where she met Nick and helped him build his second canoe, Lucky Boy. Very lucky indeed, Lee stuck around--building her own custom furniture for private clients and eventually running the growing collective of woodworkers and online store. In 2018, after ten years as shop manager, Lee left OWS to revitalize our partner Non-Profit organization Would Works, where she is now program director. Lee teaches woodworking at Allied Woodshop and in the School of Art at Cal State Long Beach.

Matt stumbled backwards into woodworking at the tender age of 23. He previously spent 7 years apprenticing as a grade school janitor, but upon moving to Los Angeles he spurned his dream to take up antique restoration at Shabby Chic. Matt quickly became the most adept carpenter of the 3 actors employed there. Although he enjoyed 3 blissful years touring California buying, hauling, and restoring antiques, he grew tired of painting furniture pink. Matt worked occasionally for OWS, but didn’t find enough confinement for his spirit there, so he tried his hand at a variety of office jobs. Matt still had to get his furniture fix at night. And thank Jehovah he did. It was during these nighttime sessions that Matt discovered his true calling: not finishing furniture projects. At the shop, Matt spent 7 magical years not finishing pieces which led to his title as the OWS’ resident Incompetence Marshall*.

After some time however, Matt began to unfortunately gain competence. He abruptly moved his family back to IL where he now makes beer and tries to forget some of the useful knowledge he gained. He still doesn't finish any of his projects but now they're all hidden in his house (that also isn't finished). If you see him in the wild, buy him a beer and put your arm around him. He might cry, but not for long and then he'll buy you a beer.

*Fully certified.

Originally from the Hudson Valley, Jane grew up in a community of craftspeople. Each person forged their path through their craft. She readily joined the same path at a young age and jumped into any kind of project she could make with her hands. She studied Studio Art at Bard College (BA 99’) and Set Design at St. Martin’s in London (MA 05’). She designed and built sets for print, film, theater and opera for over ten years. Over the past four years she has gotten more involved with OWS, making custom lights (you can see more of her work at Waves of White) and taken the reigns as Shop Manager. She’s happy to be a part of such a badass creative shop!

Growing up on a farm, Ric spent a lot of time working with his hands. Even after he moved to town and worked as a history teacher, he spent his summers doing labor. He worked on local farms, did odd jobs, and spent 18 summers laying asphalt. He worked with wood a lot, but never purposefully created something out of wood until 1972 – the year Nick needed help getting up to the toilet. Ever the attentive parent, Ric made him a handy little step stool out of pine. Since then, he has outfitted the family living room with an entertainment center and end tables out of oak, and for their dining room Ric built a china closet out of oak to match the existing antique one. For the last few years, he has put in a lot of time working on the scroll saw and laminating hardwoods. As a result, he has furnished most of his friends and family with cutting boards, Christmas ornaments, Cribbage boards, and bird houses. If you ever get the chance to visit him in the shop, you’ll leave with a smile on your face.

Sarah was born in the sticks of Indiana. At age ten, she and the family moved out West. While contentedly a Californian now, it was those early years in the woods of the Midwest, where Sarah’s love for building and getting dirty in the process crystallized. She is a graduate of the 2018 class of The Krenov School of Fine Woodworking (formerly College of the Redwoods) in Ft. Bragg, CA. Her career in woodworking though began earlier, in 2012, with a fortuitous meeting in the downtown library of Oakland, CA. This meeting with Bay Area woodworker Trevor Hadden led to a five-month apprenticeship in which Trevor taught her the foundations of woodworking, and machine use and maintenance. Between then and her move to Los Angeles in 2016 Sarah and friends ran a collective warehouse in Oakland that hosted a wood shop, print shop, car shop and artist studios. With a formal background in design and an informal background in carpentry and framing, she enjoys designing and building on all scales but these days primarily focuses on fine furniture. After spending a year as what she fondly refers to as the “sanding and finishing lackey,” Sarah is excited to take the lead as Project Manager here at the Offerman Woodshop.

Clio, colloquially referred to as the "farmhand" at Offerman Woodshop, comes from a longstanding heritage of craftsmen & textile artists from the American South. Raised by hippies who operated a small yarn company nestled in the pastoral landscape of Sebastopol, California, Clio was surrounded by the wonder and importance of making from a young age. Her reverence for wood as a material was discovered within the first few weeks of her freshman year at Lewis & Clark College, where she would go on to earn a BA in Sculpture. Shortly after her move to Los Angeles in 2016, Clio began working part time at Offerman and has since sanded her way to a consistent position at the shop.

Michele’s first experience with wood was producing a pinhole camera in a high school photography class. It opened her eyes to all that was possible designing something that was beautiful and functional. She continued studying photography in college, but found that sculpture and design was in her heart and thus the transition into the three dimensional world began. After college she held many positions in the art and craft worlds, honing her fabrication and design skills. They ranged from gallery/museum preparator and technician to artist assistant to machinist. Once she settled at the The Exploratorium in 2004, she constructed a range of interactive exhibits, furniture and public art pieces. She left San Francisco in 2010 to study at The Krenov School in northern California which inevitably led her on a search to find a shop where she could build furniture on commission. Luckily the Offerman Woodshop is where she landed for four years. She can now be found in Tasmania, Australia where she is mumming, teaching and making fine furniture with local Tassie timbers. You can see more of Michele’s work at michelediener.com.

Josh worked at Offerman Woodshop for 7 years from 2010-2017, eventually becoming the Shop Foreman. He currently resides in Denver, Colorado where he still builds custom furniture. Originally from Palo Alto, California, Josh studied furniture and cabinetmaking at Cerritos College where he learned traditional joinery and construction techniques. When not woodworking, Josh enjoys cycling, snowboarding, and drinking IPA’s. You can see more of his work at Salsbury Furniture.