Mission & History
Instructors Tom Hucker and Peter Pierobon helping with a steam bend. Photo by Bill Garbus.
The mission of the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship is to provide the best possible education for people who want to design and build functional, beautiful, and expressive work out of wood to the highest standard of craftsmanship. At the heart of the Center’s mission is the belief that design and craftsmanship are deeply meaningful expressions of the human spirit. They contribute to individual fulfillment and, by extension, to the advancement of society.
Our programs are for novice, intermediate, and advanced woodworkers who seek an inspiring learning experience in a supportive environment.
STUDENTS AND FACULTY
In 2007 the school had 333 course enrollments from 37 states and three foreign countries. Participants are amateur and professional woodworkers who seek to combine the rich woodworking traditions of the past with modern technologies and aesthetic concerns to create work with contemporary resonance. Almost every course encourages students to design individualized projects. The Center is widely recognized as one of the top furniture making schools for those who want to achieve uncompromising standards of excellence in craftsmanship and design.
Our instructors are professional furniture makers with exceptional technical expertise and generous teaching skills, who have demonstrated significant engagement with issues of design. Faculty come from across the United States, England, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
In order to provide every student with ample individual attention, enrollments are generally limited to 12 students per course, served by two or more full-time instructors and support staff. In addition, students enjoy round-the-clock access to the workshops and library, with certain limits on nighttime machine use.
HISTORY
The Center was founded in 1993 by Executive Director Peter Korn and quickly attracted a distinguished visiting faculty, including internationally respected furniture makers such as Alan Peters from Devon, England, Michael Fortune from Petersborough, Canada, and James Krenov from Fort Bragg, California. In 1996 the school moved to a purpose-built, 4,200-square-foot Workshop Building on its present campus in Rockport, Maine. In 1999 the Center became a non-profit, 501(c)(3) educational organization.
In July 2001, in response to swelling enrollment demand, the school launched a $2.4 million Capital Campaign that concluded successfully in January 2004. Through the generous support of more than 400 alumni, foundations, corporations, individuals, and our Board of Directors, the campaign created the Satterlee, Jackson, and Gallery Buildings, the Nine-month Comprehensive course, a third Twelve-week Intensive course, the expanded Studio Fellowship Program, the Messler Gallery, and the Fine Woodworking Library. It also established endowment for support of the Fellowship Program and for long-term maintenance of facilities.