When Carren and Gabrielle Cheng moved to New York City, the 26-year-old twins bought the bulk of their furniture from IKEA. But there are two pieces in the apartment the entrepreneurs made themselves: a pair of side tables the duo handcrafted in a six-week woodworking workshop.
People lovecustomizing virtual furnitureon Nintendo’sAnimal Crossingand go viral forrecreating their college campusesbrick for brick in Minecraft. But many millennials are giving DIY furniture a go in the real world as a way to reconnect with their bodies, learn about an overlooked craft, and create custom furniture that fits their specific needs—and lasts a lot longer than the typical big-box store purchase.
The Chengs are both artistic by nature. They’re avid painters and always up for a YouTube tutorial on a new craft. But when Carren decided to give woodworking a go, she knew she’d need to find a dedicated space, with the right tools and teachers. She foundBien Hecho, a professional furniture studio in the Brooklyn Navy Yard that also offers beginner workshops, and signed them both up.
In the six-week course, the students moved together, cut by cut, through the production of their side tables. For Carren, the experience was “like a roller coaster.” Being around the whirring machines and giant blades was certainly an adrenaline rush, but there was another kind of strangeness, too. “I guess I was adjusting to using my hands again,” she says.
People in their 20s and 30s aregetting crafty in all kinds of ways, from full-on Etsy shops to personalsourdough starters. John Randall, the founder of Bien Hecho, says his workshops attract tons of students from the tech industry. “It’s a lot of people who are staring at screens all day,” he says. The texture of an unrefined block of wood provides a heady contrast to a long day running social media accounts or programming software. But it’s a tactile experience many people crave.