Ingrained: The making of a craftsman

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Description

Critically acclaimed, evocative, literary memoir of life as a carpenter- a book for anyone who has ever whittled something out of wood or dreamt about doing so. Ingrained is a love letter to trees, timber and craftsmanship - and to finding your own voice. The eldest son of a Master Woodworker, Callum Robinson spent his childhood absorbing craft lessons in his father's rural Scottish workshop. As he grew older his passion for creating exquisite bespoke objects led him to establish his own workshop; to chase ever bigger and more commercial projects, to business meetings, bright lights, and to losing touch with his roots. Until the devastating loss of one major job threatened to bring it all crashing down. Faced with the end of his business, his team and everything he had worked so hard to build, he was forced to question what mattered most. Blending memoir and nature writing at its finest, Ingrained is an uplifting meditation on the joys and challenges of working with your hands in our modern age, on inheritance, community, and the beauty of the natural world.

Reviews

A debut thats both a paean to the art of woodworking and a memoir about creative endeavours. * Observer *
Robinsons prose is humorous and macho, taking its lead from the gruff, sensual delivery of food writer Anthony Bourdain . . . But wood, in all its facets, remains at the heart of his writing. Robinson is poetic about the pageant of ash, beech and pine but also pragmatic. * Financial Times *
A gem of a book ... a hymn to family and living a life you love ... Callum is the virtuoso with words that he is with woodcraft. His book is intimate, elegant and soulful; it is an ode to natures gift of wood and how the deftness of the artisan can shape it into something wonderful. -- Annie Brown * Daily Mail *
When [Robinson] rolls out the names of trees ... it's as mesmeric as Edward Thomas listing wildflowers. Which is apt, because Robinson is a fine writer, sometimes poetic -- Maggie Fergusson * Spectator *
A Best Book of 2024: This memoir honors not just the art of carpentry but the passion of labor itself a call for all of us, whatever we do, to do it with passion and care. * New Yorker *
Natural, never over-polished, accessible, and finely wrought. * Esquire *
Ingrained is a beautifully written memoir which sheds light on the delicate skill of a craftsman ... if this makes it sound as if this book is only of interest to carpenters, think again. This memoir is a delightful read, engaging, page-turning and touchingly revealing. * Scottish Field *
A profound and intimate memoir written in stylish prose that grows on you like the smell of freshly sawn timber. Instantly, it deserves a place among woodworking classics like The Village Carpenter, The Wheelwrights Shop and Woodland Crafts in Britain. -- Robert Penn, author of The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees
Honest, original and true written like a good novel, with that very rare merit of exploring the doubt and criticism necessary for any great art or craft, be it writing or carpentry. -- Lars Mytting, author of Norwegian Wood and The Sister Bells Trilogy
A delightful book about the art of craft; a hard-carved woodworking romance written with tenderness and an almost sensual attention to detail. I can smell the resin and the soft, fresh sawdust. I can feel the bite of dense grain beneath the blade. Quite magical. -- Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment

Author Bio

Callum Robinson makes all manner of things from all manner of woods for some of the most influential brands in the world. He is creative director at Method Studio, the company he established with his wife, designer and lecturer Marisa Giannasi, almost fifteen years ago. Taught by his father - now one of the UK's foremost 'Master Woodcarvers' - his work has been exhibited widely. He works and writes from a studio and workshop in a forest, beside a loch, nestled in the Scottish hills.