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

Garrett, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

The woodworking products I make took a relatively short time to learn, but I am constantly learning new techniques that increase my efficiency, reduce costs, or create distinctive styles. I think the base skills to do what I do can be learned quite easily, but creating a brand image and identity is something that continually evolves and changes over time. New techniques and methods replace old and the products I make are a combinations of those learned skills and the materials I use.

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

GMG Woodcrafts are projects sourced, designed, and crafted by Garrett Goto in Santa Cruz, California. The serving boards are inspired by the rugged California coast where the wood’s live edge is different on every piece and emblematic of the meandering stretches of the central California wilderness. Domestic hardwoods and local species, like Monterey cypress, are milled down to size by hand for cutting boards, serving boards, and cutlery handles. Knives and cutlery are assembled and shaped by hand.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

There are plenty of exotic woods from far-away tropical places that have shady supply chains and drive deforestation of old growth forests. I use local woods whenever possible, like Monterey cypress or black oak that was meant to be firewood, or domestic hardwoods from the west coast. There are plenty of beautiful materials that are locally available that people may not be as familiar with. I hope to expose the beauty of local materials that people can use on a daily basis in their kitchens and homes.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Social media and online sales platforms don’t translate into sales for everyone. I wanted to have a strong online presence in my first year (because that’s what I thought you were supposed to do to increase sales) but in reality, it just took up a lot of my time to post and update and didn’t translate into a lot of sales. The bulk of my sales were at in-person events where people could see and touch what I had made. Online sales are slowly increasing, but I wish I had spent more time making products and attending in-person events than creating content that went into the ether.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gmgwoodcrafts.com/
• Instagram: @gmgwoodcrafts

Image Credits
GMGWoodcrafts_1: Steve Morissette GMGWoodcrafts_3: Grace Garey GMGWoodcrafts_6: Laura Gray All others: Garrett Goto