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As a child I was often in the shop: I loved the times when larch or pine was fresh cut and the smell would fill the room -- it would make you want to take deep breaths of it. I also enjoyed seeing the workers work together. Entering the shop had something special; this was a fun but serious place, big things would be made here. You could never guess what it was they were working on until the day of the "glue-up", when all the pieces would come to life and anything could appear in front of you: a heavy, solid oak door, or an armoire, a dresser. It seemed there was nothing those clever people couldn't figure out how to build. By the time I finished high school, both of my older brothers became established woodworkers. My oldest brother then took over the shop. At the age of 16 I started a one year intensive woodworking program in Schwetzingen near Heidelberg, followed by two and a half years of apprenticeship under the supervision of my oldest brother. After graduating I worked for two more years with my brother. I also worked in the theater, building stage sets. During my free time I worked on my sculptures, paintings, music, and films. In 1990 my wife and I moved to Berlin. It was not until 1991 when my wife an I decided to stay in America from our visit. This was the first time for me to see how woodworkers share a space and machines, information would be passed on, tricks and knowledge would be in constant exchange, if work ran low for a worker, one having better days would pass an extra job on. There seemed to be a sense of community. In 1994 I opened my own business in a shared space. In 1996 I became Co-owner of Western Avenue Woodworkers. In addition, I helped establish the woodworking program for Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle teaching Introduction to Woodworking, Traditional Woodworking and Sculpture.
Peter
Hook
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Paintings by my father |
In
the village of Altrip Germany, where I grew up, stands the wood shop
my father built, right next to my family house. My father died young,
and left the shop for my mother to manage.
