We were lucky to catch up with Ken Galbreath recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ken, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?

I graduated from high school in 2000, so it’s been quite a while, but when I attended, the guidance counselors would sort the students into a “track” based on their grades and… well, I assume that it was just grades, because when I got to high school, the counselor told me that I was in the college track and that I should be focused on honors classes and extracurricular activities that would look good on a college application. And that made sense to me. I had good grades. Society says that we’re supposed to go to college after high school.

Never once did the counselors ask me if I wanted to look at the courses from the school of tech, or vocational side of the school. And, honestly, even if they had, I probably wouldn’t have. That part of the school wasn’t for me.

And so I took the things that they told me to. I did all the advance placement courses in science, English, and math. I sang in the choir, marched in the band, and acted all the drama. I took the individual courses that the education bigwigs said were essential to my education as a teenager–at least one computer science, at least one physical education, at least one language, and of course, at least one humanity.

But there wasn’t a mandated tech course. They taught us enough Spanish to embarrass ourselves on vacation in Puerto Rico, but no one ever showed us how to actually use a tape measure (and, let me tell you, there are A LOT of people who can not use a tape measure). I’m glad that I got a basic computer science course, because i use a computer everyday, and it’s nice to have a very basic understanding of programming… I guess. But a class in basic home maintenance that taught people how to cut a straight line, how to fix a leaky faucet, and how to hang door a door properly might be just as useful, if not more so, to the general population.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Ken Galbreath, the creator behind Modern Savage. I’ve been building since I was a kid. I helped my dad build two decks for our trailer (he burnt down the first one) before I finished elementary school. As a high schooler, I hauled lumber and shingles up and down ladders for builders during the summer. Even when I was deployed with the army, I ended up building. After our first sergeant heard that I had helped to frame houses, he had me build some outhouses. But it was never my focus…until the pandemic.

When I first started building as a job, I focused on straight lines and right angles. Those two things are incredibly important to being able to plan and execute simple projects. There are a lot of mathematical assumptions you can make if all of your lines are straight and your angles are 90 degrees. And then, once you are proficient with those basics, you start to wonder how to bend those rules, literally and figuratively. And that’s where Modern Savage was born–inside that place in the mind that asks, “What if…”

Modern Savage builds custom cabinetry and furniture for customers in the Western North Carolina area.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

I started making furniture and cabinetry because of the COVID pandemic. When the pandemic began, I had been tending bar for seven years. I was already “over” the service industry and the closure of restaurants essentially pushed me into a new direction.

I got a job with a small construction crew that was building a luxury tiny home in Cruso, NC. There were a lot of intricate details that the customer/owner wanted to include. By the end of the build the customer/owner noticed my attention to detail and asked me to take charge of the final trim out of the home. After that, he asked me to take on a few more projects including a handmade butcher block counter top, and a cabinet built from reclaimed wormy chestnut that came from the original home on the property. Those projects consumed my attention while I was at work, but after work as well. I was obsessed with making the products as refined as the woodwork that I saw on social media clips, not just for the customer, but out of a real desire to “make.”

I worked with that customer for a few more projects, and then he offered to finance a small workshop for me. We’ve been business partners since.

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

The most important lesson I’ve had to unlearn is the idea that you have to know what you’re doing. When I built that first cabinet, I had never built a cabinet in my life.

But, once I sat down to plan out the process, I realized that I had performed all the individual steps that go into building a cabinet. As a matter of fact, I had learned how to do most of those tasks before I even reached the fifth grade. I knew how to add and subtract fractions. I knew how to use a ruler. I could draw out a figure of a cabinet and label all the intended dimensions. Tools of all sorts had become part of my daily life during the previous year. Once I broke down all of the individual processes, I realized that I could eat the elephant, as long as I took it one bite at a time.

It was NOT a smooth and easy process. There were multiple times during the build that I was ready to scrap it all and go back to the bar. Something wouldn’t be quite square, or I would fail to do the math right and end up with short boards. But I would take a deep breath, or take a walk, and go back to the shop, reminding myself that those mistakes were lessons. That first cabinet was almost a month of work, and a huge loss as far as time and money, but the experience was priceless. Not only did I learn how to build a cabinet, but I also learned how to navigate my way through unknown territory.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.modernsavagestudios.com
• Instagram: @modern_savage_studios
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kennethlesliefurniture