This is Philip, our ecology teacher, natural history guide, practical philosophy guru, storyteller - and wood working teacher. We are certainly forgetting a few titles. Philip collects wood and lathes lamps, bowls, bannisters and other rounded articles. The craft requires a mix of brute strength and calculated movements, the ability to sense depth and distance in an object spinning at high speeds, the focus and understanding to determine which loud crashes are normal, and which ones mean you should retreat immediately. It is a mix of violence and subtlety. Firmness, angles, the heaviest and lightest of touches.














During our visit, he demonstrated the tasks of making a bowl and a lamp from wood blocks to sanding and oiling, throwing in a few tricks along the way. He made it look easy but it's not.

Thanks Philip!