James Krenov

James Krenov is a world-famous woodworker.

James Krenov was born in Wellen in Kamchatka in 1920. Currently he lives in Fort Bragg, CA where he retired from cabinetmaking due to vision problems. As of 2002, he no longer teaches at College of the Redwoods, whose fine woodworking program he founded. He is still woodworking. He makes and sells his famous wooden handplanes.

Influence

Krenov is revered by many craftsmen for his inspiration to bring into one's work simplicity, harmony and above all, a love of wood. Krenov's books "A Cabinetmaker's Notebook" and "The Impractical Cabinetmaker" shun ostentatious and overly sculpted pieces, stains, sanded surfaces, and unbalanced or unproportional constructions. Krenov feels that details such as uniformly rounded edges, perfectly flat surfaces, and sharp corners remove the personal touch from a piece of furniture. His books extoll the virtues of clean lines, hand-planed surfaces, unfinished or lightly finished wood, and techniques that Krenov refers to as "honest".

Approach

Although making his living of his craft, Krenov refers to his attitude towards his work as that of an amateur, feeling that the competitive attitude of a professional causes one to compromise one's values as a craftsman. He avoids calling the conception and creation of a piece as "design," preferring a more inclusive term "composing." Composing, explains Krenov, is reacting to the wood, a continual re-evaluation and improvisation open to wherever the wood takes the composer.

In his cabinets and other pieces, Krenov pays careful attention to variations in grain and color in his search for "harmony" in a piece. A self described "wood nut," he often seeks out woods that are rare, highly figured, or containing unique coloration. Krenov is also highly critical of those who seek "originality" at the expense of well made furniture.

Although Krenov believes machinery has its place in the shop,(namely to efficiently complete the relatively greuling and crude early stages of stock removal and thicknessing)he feels an overdependence on power tools removes the "fingerprints" left on the finished piece that only handwork can leave, and alienate the craftsman from his work. Krenov criticizes the trend in woodworking schools toward the early use of power tools, instead of building a foundation of hand skills. Instead of focusing on which machinery one should buy, he puts emphasis on having well-tuned equipment.

Graduates from Krenov's College of the Redwoods have gone on to professional furniture-making, writing craft books, and teaching in many programs throughout the world.

External links

* [http://www.jameskrenov.com Krenov's personal web site]
* [http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/krenov04.htm A transcript of an interview with Krenov, stored at the Smithsonian Institution ]