We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hannah Robinson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hannah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

My main priority in life is to make my children proud and to demonstrate a life dedicated to conservation, art and sustainability. By saving trees from the dump and creating functional art, they witness their mother take a raw material and create heirloom furniture that will be passed down for generations. Their children’s children will know my work because I brand each piece, and I never make the same design twice. Everything is made from sustainably sourced felled trees, and many of them are significantly historic legacy trees, such as the grand oak that fell on Drayton Hall’s land. From that historic tree, I am making tables, fireplace mantles and much more. Every single part of the tree was saved.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

With just a drill and a dream, in 2020, I started Charleston Live Edge, LLC. I started it because I noticed that all of our trees were being dumped and mulched at “recycling centers” and nothing was being done about it! I had a dream to save trees from the dump. I did not even have a space to practice my newfound passion. I finally found a little rickety warehouse in North Charleston where I began to teach myself carpentry. To my surprise, it came naturally and interior designers started to notice. I was just doing what I love everyday. It didn’t feel like work, and as a result, my finished pieces demonstrate my painstaking attention to every detail. It is wood art, not just carpentry, but I do it all, so I use the tagline “Your Lady Carpenter” as a general description.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Taking the leap to go full time in 2020 as a single mother certainly filled me with trepidation. My biological family did not encourage nor give any emotional support, but the people of Charleston were very much the opposite. The local community we have here in our beautiful city has been like a true family to me. When I felt like giving up on my dreams, my friends and follower’s words of affirmation kept me going. My resilience and confidence was hard won through many projects that other master carpenters labeled as “impossible,” yet I pulled through and over-delivered masterpiece furniture. It humbles me greatly to see the hundreds of beautiful pieces I have all over our city.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

As a child I was told that I was not good at math or ‘handy,’ and I believed it. It turns out that I learn in a “hands on” environment and not in a school desk. I think a lot of people do, but are not offered the resources through public education. Nowadays education is focused on testing and does not always pertain to everyday life (like teaching about taxes or how to change a tire). My passion is to revive the trades, especially for females. It is why I teach classes often for free and involve myself heavily in charity work for the trades.

For all the women that were told that they weren’t capable of doing carpentry, I want them to know that’s not true! It all depends on the willingness to learn, fail and keep going. It’s like learning another language. Many Americans are told they must learn when they are young when they are a sponge. I learned and became fluent in my 30’s. Everything is possible with the right mindset. Carpentry is a therapeutic and empowering experience. After making a stool in one of my classes, I have students stand on it and tell themselves “I made this and it’s holding me up!” It’s a very powerful experience to feel the sturdy strength of something you made holding you up. Many students cry when looking down at their stool. The programming we receive as women and what we are truly capable of must be eradicated.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.liveedgefurniture.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/your_lady_carpenter?igsh=NjNwc3ozdmZiMmhx&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1Figg9aWea/?mibextid=wwXIfr