To Build Rather than Buy

Publisher’s note: Happy Saturday and welcome to Earlywood, a free excerpt from one of the thousands of pieces I’ve written since 1996. Sometimes, it originally appeared in a magazine article. Or in a blog. Or, in this case, a book’s preface, written in 2015. Each entry has been updated or annotated with some modern context or point of view. We hope you enjoy it.

By hand. A stone dovecote in Cornwall, England.

“(E)veryone should have a project: after all it is the best way to avoid being designed yourself.” — G.C. Argan, “A Critical and Artistic Evaluation” in L’Espresso, May 5, 1974

On the surface, the words “anarchist” and “design” don’t belong together in a sentence. Most woodworkers think of “design” as a way to organize the visual elements of a piece of furniture and “anarchism” as something akin to chaos.

Once you understand a bit about the American brand of anarchism – a non-violent and anti-consumerist approach to living – I think these terms are allied.

Contemporary North American …