Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to John Kenneth King. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
John Kenneth, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.
Making urns for cremation ashes has become an unexpected component of my woodturning business. I started Renew Turning with the intention of giving storm damaged trees additional life. The name for my company was selected because of this resurrection concept.
But I had not considered making urns until a friend asked me to turn one from a special piece of wood for her brother’s ashes. He had died during the COVID lockdown at a nursing home facility and his ashes were mailed from the crematorium.
More recently a longtime friend died and her husband asked me to turn an urn for her ashes because he had seen pictures of the earlier one. It took a couple of tries to find the right piece of wood. Her husband and daughter agreed on a piece of fiddleback Maple which had been harvested from a diseased tree. Around the same time one of my four brothers requested I turn an urn and that piece is still being completed.
But the story I really want to tell is about a Keepsake Urn for a mother to keep a small portion of ashes from her son. He died recently and directed that his ashes be scattered in a large lake where he played as a youth and in the Gulf of Mexico. His mom plans to honor that request, but wanted a small memorial, also.
Her son’s dad contacted me to ask if I could help the mom. I noted I would be honored to help out. The mom reached out to me and I informed her that while I do not currently have any urns on hand, I have completed some. I shared the link to my website and encouraged her to scroll through my pieces looking for a color of wood which would be appropriate.
She texted a photo of a small piece of abstract art, from my site, which made her think of her son. It turns out he was an abstract artist, so this piece attracted her attention. While that piece was too small to adapt into a keepsake urn, I assured her I could make a similar piece which would work. She contracted with me to turn the piece.
As I do with all commissions, I sent her photos to show the progress and give her information on the anticipated timeline. She was appreciative of the communication. Last week she came to take delivery of the piece. As she held it in her hands she declared, “It looks just like him! Even as a boy, I called him, ‘My weird bird.’” Numerous people who have seen the original piece have asked, “What kind of bird is it supposed to be.”
You never know how art will connect with an audience. The best outcomes are like this one which go far beyond what I could have imagined. This memorial brings back waves of memories from the decades of his life. I am honored for the opportunity!
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.
I am almost 67 years old. Woodworking has been a significant part of my life for 52 of those years. It was the one class in high school where I was always shocked at how quickly the class period would end. Because of my work in that class (over three years), my teacher recommended me for a summer job at a local family-owned acoustic guitar company. Woodworking got deep into my life!
About 30 years ago I connected with the second friend who commissioned me to turn an urn for his wife’s ashes. The three of us ended up working together on a local community service project over a week of volunteering. We became business partners and my longtime sidehustle was born. I cut out thousands of clocks and signs which bore his artwork. His wife was the company business manager and lots of my direct interactions were through her. It was an honor to make an urn when she died earlier in 2024. Many of the tools in my shop were purchased with money I earned from this business.
In 2021 my woodworking shifted after I purchased my first lathe and began turning mostly bowls and vases. Woodworking can be expensive because of the high cost of lumber and other materials. But turning offers ways to reduce the costs of the lumber by investing time and expertise. It also allows me to utilize some of the most beautiful (but hard to work with) sections of a downed tree—the crotch pieces.
Renew Turning grew out of my love for creating unique woodart. Most of my pieces are functional art. But some are purely abstract and offer unique decor.
The story behind a piece is often as valuable as the item itself. Through my decades working in pastoral ministry and in missions, I grew in my understanding of the power of storytelling to create avenues for transformation. Now in my retirement years I get to connect that power with woodworking, especially woodturning.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
Woodworking has been my sidehustle for thirty years. In that function I served as more of a craftsman than an artist. I cut parts for guitars, clocks and signs which a local artist designed and made look beautiful. My work was behind the scenes and did not require any marketing. When the clock motors we used were no longer available, we shut that component down recently. The timing could not have been better for me, though, because my turning has grown of late.
Making art pieces is one skill—selling them is another! I’ve sold at a local market, festivals and via my website. But finding new clientele is yet another challenge! Making, selling and marketing each comes with a pretty steep learning curve.
At the memorial service for my friend’s wife, I struck up a conversation with a mutual friend. He informed me that he had recently retired, but then was immediately hired at a high-end home decor store! I took the risk to ask if they ever do consignment with local artists. “Yes, we do!” He responded. “We are in the middle of a big move to a new location with more floor space. After our grand opening, contact me and I will introduce you to the owner.”
He sent me an invitation to the opening and I decided to check it out. I arrived and strolled through looking at the price range on their merchandise and also paid close attention to wood pieces (there were actually very few). After looking through the whole store I found my friend and he introduced me to the owner.
After I showed her pictures of some of the pieces I had in stock, she said, “You look familiar. Were you my soccer coach?” Decades earlier my daughter had convinced me to coach her soccer team. The lady standing in front of me had been on that same team. Her grandmother’s furniture store had been the sponsors. Things like this are more likely to happen when you live 30+ years in a smaller city.
My new relationship with Peddler Interior & Gifts has started with a bang! I am excited about the synergy! This longtime business has the kind of clientele that I have longed to connect with locally. While I enjoy the storytelling part of selling, finding new clients can be hard. This business relationship provides a location where people can see and hold my pieces. Feeling a wood piece is significant to making a purchase because lots of the beauty is tactile, too!
Relationships are so significant to good business. Woodworking continues to give me a reason for building deep, meaningful relationships.
Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?
Funding my business has been a journey. Because woodworking in general and woodturning specifically started as sidehustles the funding needs have not been as high pressured as typical startups. When I started cutting parts for the local artist, I reinvested the majority of my early earnings into purchasing better equipment which allowed me to maintain the pace as the work scaled up. Through our partnership, the artist was able to sell more of his pieces wholesale and that increased his reach. I used half of our attached garage and put those large tools on rollers so I could move them outside when the weather was good. Eventually my wife and I were able to build a detached garage.
The funds for my lathe came from my inheritance from my father. While I could have invested it in other ways, I chose to invest it in myself and start Renew Turning. Paying as I go has been my financial strategy for starting an art business. Avoiding debt has allowed the business to not be a strain on my retirement income. It has also prompted me to be frugal and find ways to stretch the resources I have available. Turning handles for new tools, for example has been a way to use resources well.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://renewturning.com
- Instagram: renew.turning
Image Credits
John Kenneth King