Furniture Intensive Student Perspectives: Kim and Mar

Kim Disney and Mar Beck recently shared their journey to become students in the furniture-making intensive program at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking.

With a background in art history, museums, and furniture restoration, Kim saw the furniture-making intensive as the obvious next step. “The pandemic really provided an opportunity to reassess what I wanted to do. This felt like a culmination of the things I pursued over the last 10-15 years,” she said.

Mar working on their final chair project.

When Mar was a child, their mother often did woodworking projects around the house and suggested woodworking as a possible career path. Mar was considering different trade schools but chose PTSW because, “I keep getting drawn back to wood. I love working with my hands.”

It took Kim and Mar several years from when they first heard about the program, to applying and finally attending. For these two students, the complexities of paying for tuition, housing, taking a break from working, and finding pet sitters at times felt overwhelming. But with the scholarships, familial support, and a few strokes of luck, both students were able to find the time, resources, and a cat sitter to make their PTSW coursework possible.

Kim shared, “It was hard to commit and apply and say I’m doing this. Once it started, there was this feeling that I was totally in the right place.”

Kim posing with some of her project from the course.

Mar and Kim have been at the PTSW for more than six months and have almost completed their furniture-making training. Both students agreed that one of the biggest advantages of the program was learning in a community with so many different perspectives and ways of problem-solving. “Being around other people that are doing something similar but all making their own work is amazing. You are learning so much more than what you are doing. You are getting to see how other people approach and solve problems,” said Kim.

Mar has enjoyed the time in the shop to experience different types and styles of tools. “Having all the tools available to us means I can figure out what tools I like here. So that when hopefully I make my own shop, I don’t have to buy something and not like it.” 

Learning about their individual design aesthetic was a big part of each student's journey through the program. “Looking back at those projects, I love what I’ve made,” said Mar. “I’ve learned so much about that process about what excites me and what I want to make and how I like to make it.”

Mar concluded, “I think if you are excited about woodworking that’s reason enough to be here. It’s such a welcoming environment and so many amazing people.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves! Thanks, Mar and Kim for sharing your PTSW journey with us.