We were lucky to catch up with Ryan Jennings recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ryan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I think woodworking is one of those crafts where you never stop learning. Even if you “master” your way of doing something, there are lots of other ways it could and sometimes needs to be done. Like with most things in life, I typically learn the hard way so learning the craft for me was just starting, messing up, and getting better each time I made something.

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 got into the cabinet/countertop business after high school after throwing away a baseball career due to being young and making poor choices. I have been around cabinetry for most of my career, and work as a builder sales representative as my day job. My early cabinet experience was primary building them, delivering, fixing, and eventually smaller installations. This gave me the foundation that would eventually lead me to starting my own woodworking business as it requires some of the same basic skills and tools as woodworking. My grandfather was an engineer and also did woodworking. I had a friend that knew I did some side work outside of the office installing cabinets, and she asked if I would do her fireplace built-in cabinets. I did, and while installing a neighbor wanted a quote as well. Next thing you know, I was working most nights and weekends building the business. I primarily started with installations as they paid well, but I really wanted to build furniture and make more creative pieces, so I did just that. While doing installations on the weekends, it led to me doing a few tables for my own house and eventually clients asking if I could make them furniture as well. I did my first custom table for a client in 2020 and have continued to do more woodworking along with installations since then.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I don’t know what they are.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I would have started an IG page sooner than I did. I felt like nobody cared so never did. When I finally started one, it definitely helped with the business, as well as just being able to share the work you do and spend so much time on.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @jenningswoodworks

Image Credits
SPS Productions edited some of the cutting board phots.