We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ryan Johnson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ryan below.

Ryan, appreciate you joining us 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.

I’m largely self taught. Some people think that’s pretty cool but honestly I think that can be the long route. If it were possible I think an apprenticeship or craft school would’ve made the process a lot less painful. I think we’re in the golden age of learning though. With YouTube and social media you can teach yourself almost anything. I was a learning little before that so it was alot more reading and less watching.

Ryan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started as a house carpenter over 20 years ago. (I was only 17!) Carpentry slowly transitioned to rudimentary furniture and cabinetry. Those types of pieces transitioned to more traditional furniture. I’m currently building what I would characterize as studio furniture that leans heavily on shaker and danish designs. I don’t mass produce anything. Each piece is kind of a one off, though occasionally I’ll repeat a design if it fits. Sometimes a client comes with a really concrete idea and I try to make that a reality for them. Other times folks have a very general idea, like “I need a bench”, and then I get to both design and build. That’s my favorite, but no matter what the design is I try to build the piece to last generations. A big focus of my work is traditional joinery (how two pieces of wood fit and are held together) I think that’s what I enjoy most besides the designing.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think for any artist or creative, having people respond positively to your work is the reward. Whether you’re writing songs or photographing landscapes or building chairs I think it’s the same. When someone you don’t know “gets” what you’re doing and appreciates it, that’s very rewarding. Sometimes that response is financial but not always. I think there’s an assumption that for someone to be a “true artist” they have to make a living from their art but I don’t think that’s necessarily true.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I just said in a previous response that financial success isn’t the only measure of success for an artist but….we all need to eat and most creative folks I know work extremely hard. Obviously if you can afford to commission work, buy merchandise, go to shows etc, it really makes a huge difference. And if you aren’t in a position to support financially I think just being supportive, dropping a comment or message on social media, showing up to galleries and things like that mean a lot. Oh, referrals are hugely helpful. Even though there are tons of ways to get exposure I find referrals are still hugely important.

Contact Info:

• Website: rljandsons.com
• Instagram: rl_johnson