Welcome. My name is Nicholas Larkins, and I run a small craft business in Cary, NC.

If you’re looking for a general idea of what I do, check out the portfolio of past work.

To go deeper into the why and how, check out the project blog.

PHILOSOPHY

I first encountered the idea that craftsmanship was a culture-shaping force while writing a philosophy thesis. I was captivated by the idea that both the natural and built environment are perfected by the thoughtful application of human work, and that the process might have the reciprocal effect of perfecting the worker via an intimate head-and-hands engagement with reality. After a year of thinking, researching, and writing about the question, I finished my degree a year early and jumped on the first trade job I could find (as a welder).

I have since worked variously as a TIG welder, motorcycle mechanic, general contractor, pipe organ builder, and timber framer. I completed the Mortise & Tenon hand tool apprenticeship program as a Journeyman while supporting myself as home remodeler. My experience has only affirmed and deepened the convictions I started with: a rightly ordered attitude towards work is essential to a healthy built environment, which in turn is essential for a healthy and holistic human life. Meaningful work does have the effect of perfecting both the thing worked and the worker, while work that does not respect human dignity or the natural world does damage to both.

But perhaps that’s a little high-flown. Simply put: it is a delight to build and live with well made things.