Orth Furniture Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship updates & current openings here.
If you don't have time for an apprenticeship, I offer
Twenty five years ago a man asked to come work in my shop simply to absorb whatever he could. He stayed for 2 years. Many others followed. The structure of the Orth Furniture Apprenticeship is basically the outcome of my experience working with the 30 or so men and women who have come to work with me in exchange for craft learned.This apprenticeship in metalwork, woodwork, and furniture design is especially for that person who wishes to achieve a new level of seriousness and facility in these arts. Generally, applicants must show that they have worked in wood on their own, in a school, or on the job for a year or more and have completed several basic projects. Metalworking skills are not required for entry, but interest in learning them is.
Unless we've agreed to an exception, this is a one year apprenticeship. Sometimes during the summer short term apprenticeships are also available, but they are structured differently. The description on this page applies accurately to the year-long, full-time apprenticeships only. Apprentices work 5 days a week, 9am to 5pm, both on my projects and on projects of their own. There is no tuition and there is no salary.
The work we are doing is extremely varied: from fine woodworking, bronze and steel fabrication, shop upkeep, possible shop building, and some grounds work around the property. I am looking for apprentices who are eager to be engaged in a variety of projects. Monday through Thursday, you will work on my projects. Friday is entirely given to working on the apprentice's own building projects.
Participants will likely build a furniture project each 6 to 8 weeks for the duration of their apprenticeship. This will of course be subject to the size of the projects and each person's skill level. One obvious goal is create or enhance your portfolio of completed work. All objects of my design or yours for which you have been the primary builder will be photographed. I can make no guarantees regarding future employment in the field of studio furniture, but for participants who show promise, I will have contacts and advice to help in a job search or for looking into further education. Experience has shown that
graduates find their first jobs after very short searches.
You will work hard. You will continually be asked to do things that will test your abilities, dedication, and good humor. At first we will focus on the safety, quality, and accuracy of your work. Then we will focus on conceptualizing and organizing the building process. During the last half of the apprenticeship we will work on efficiency and independence. Quality, organization, and efficiency - adding each one to the next and building your confidence as we go. During your apprenticeship we will discuss how to proceed professionally, if that is your goal. To the extent that you have earned my recommendation, I will act as your personal reference.
This is how your week will look. It has a few things in common with an old world apprenticeship, but is adapted to our modern time constraints. The first part of each week, you will work for me on custom furniture & other projects as needed to the level of your ability. This work will include some, but not necessarily all of the following: metal fabricating, patination, building/carpentry, cabinetry, woodworking (solid and veneer), furniture restoration, cleanup, errands, general shop organization and upkeep. The atmosphere will be forgiving but also highly charged with the constant call to attention and effort. You will be allowed to progress at your own speed and to make mistakes as long as you are learning from them. As the time progresses, you will be encouraged in your personal goals of greater efficiency and accuracy. You will work on lesser projects and less difficult aspects of my major pieces until you demonstrate sufficient attention to detail, accuracy, and procedure to have a primary role on a major commission or show room piece. Part of this time may be given to the restoration and adaptation of the historic timber frame barn or to other buildings. Usually each week will include a few hours of grounds work. This may include chopping firewood, planting trees, or controlling invasive plant species.The last day of each 5 day work week will be devoted to your own wood or metal projects. I will guide you in developing a design and planning your approach to the project. You will purchase your own materials and supplies for these personal projects. This is your time for independent study specifically calculated to develop your skills in directions of your own choosing. It can include designing, illustration, tool preparation & use, steel or bronze work, woodworking, finishing, and photography. In part, this time is meant to fill out and balance your apprenticeship experience. For example, if we are doing a lot of metalworking in the studio (and we are these days), you should balance that experience by emphasizing woodworking projects during this personal time.
This apprenticeship is a self-motivated and project-oriented learning process that I will direct and advise. This has several significant implications. For the most part, you will learn a technique when your project calls for it. Also you will be encouraged to proceed into a project under your own steam as much as possible. Once you understand a procedure, you may be left to yourself for hours, even days, as you complete this particular aspect of a project. It is best not to think of this apprenticeship as a pleasant retreat or an entertaining approach to learning - although it is often both. The focus here is on serious craftsmanship and only seriously motivated students will find the apprenticeship consistently engaging. This is a working studio and as such it provides a taste of what it is really like to live this life. It is somewhat of a "trial by fire". Nevertheless, it is truly an apprenticeship - a place "in between". The expectations may be very high, but the humor and patience are equally high.
This practical approach is supplemented with a more systematic program of study and research. There will be required readings in the philosophy of design, history of furniture, and the inner preparation of the artist. The applicant must be interested not only in the "nuts & bolts" of furnituremaking, but also have an active interest in critical thinking, reading, new ideas, and discussing these things with others. Questions on any aspect of the trade are not only welcomed, but encouraged. The clever apprentice ends up learning as much about him/herself as about wood and metal. A journey into the craft is a journey into ones own interior. The key attitudes to develop toward our work and toward ourselves are in fact the same: friendliness and an intense curiosity. "Believe us who have experience, you will find much more laboring amongst woods than ever you will amongst books. Woods will teach you more than any master." Bernard of Clairvaux - 12th century desert monk.
Finally, let me make several disclaimers that I hope will give you a more realistic view of apprenticeships in general and this one in particular. I love my my tools, and as you can see from the galleries we can do just about anything with them. However, my shop is not about the 'gear'. Today I find it necessary to add this comment because of the increasing popularity of catalogs and TV shows touting the latest and greatest digitally controlled, timesaving, gorgeous, idiot-proof tools. Many people who have spent too long at a desk are are coming home with good money and making a hobby of collecting the perfect tools - tools that often don't get used, but sit there beautifully and promise to make the job easy. I take the opposite approach. My tools are high-quality but basic tools - some of them antiques acquired at flea markets. Some of them plug in and many of them don't. They require skill to use, and in one or two notable cases they require some tender loving care to do their job. Here we savor processes that are tricky and we don't bother with the shop equivalents of instant coffee or bicycle training wheels. We savor the fact that you can make fine furniture forever without anything resembling a belt sander, a dovetail jig, or a polished bronze chisel sharpening gizmo. When you learn to sharpen that chisel, by hand, at the correct angle, you are training your body, bringing your intelligence down through your arms and wrists, into your fingers. This has far-reaching effects on your whole person and your capacity to work and build with intelligence and sensitivity.Another disclaimer: Our shop space is currently small. It is not air-conditioned in the summer or centrally heated in the winter. We heat with a wood stove, and wear good boots & layers in the winter. Some tools are pushed into a corner and must be rolled out for use. Sometimes we have to walk over to the barn, in the snow or rain, to use the scroll saw or lathe. The bathroom is across the drive in the house. When we run out of acetylene or deliver a table it is a 3 hour road trip. Craft, the way I do it and the way I teach it, is physically demanding and creature comforts are variable.
Orth Furniture is known for its broad range of materials, techniques, and finishes. We are often experimenting with new ideas or materials or working on some improvement. We push the limits of what we know. Sometimes master and student are learning together how to do something new or better. Real craftsmanship requires a capacity to work at the edge of what a tool is able to do. It requires an experimental attitude and a willingness to absorb failures into a final success. Ironically, what makes for good craftsmanship and something fresh and real, is an ability to manage failure. This management is both the obvious ability to correct a mistake, but also the emotional ability to handle it creatively and evolve. One of the differences between 'craft' and 'industry' (if I may philosophize), is that craft operates right at the edge of what is possible for a tool and for the person handling that tool. Industry, on the other hand, operates safely within the parameters of repeatability, speed, and average skill. Be prepared to experience this fact daily. If you are discouraged or annoyed easily, please consider another career. Impatience is not necessarily a problem - you have to have intensity, but it must be resourceful and adaptable. Unsuccessful apprentices are often unable to accept the suffering and ambiguity that is inherent in the craft process. You have to find this struggle interesting in itself.
One more related thing: If you have been working on your own or in the trades, I probably don't have to say this. If you are used to weekend seminars at Precious Crafts Lodge, I might. In craft school everything is prepared for you and you spend the entire time working on your projects. Here many things are not prepared for you. Apprentices and myself are the students AND staff of this institution. If we need metal, we go get it. If the tool is broken, we fix it. If the roof leaks we climb up there.
After 14 years in Oak Park, Illinois, Orth Furniture and the apprenticeship have moved to a 10-acre farm near Woodstock, Illinois on the outer northwest rim of Chicagoland. This is a rural, wooded setting 10 minutes from Woodstock, IL, or, in good traffic, about an hour and a half from downtown Chicago or Madison, WI, or a half hour east of Rockford, IL.
Apprentices are on their own to find room and board. There are several towns within a 10 minute drive: Harvard, Marengo, and Woodstock. Woodstock is the one with a Starbucks. Check the Northwest Herald classifieds for homes for rent (select a specific option and run the search). There are many hotels, apartments, and bed & breakfasts nearby. We are 20 minutes from Wisconsin, so don't rule out that option - tends to be cheaper. I have started a list of options. This is still a somewhat new question for us. It seems there are many possibilities, but no definite history has been established with any particular place yet. We are asked about camping on the property. This is welcomed for a few days as you look for something more permanent. Camping is tiring and distracting and therefore, not a solution for an apprenticeship of this nature. A vehicle to get around in is a must out here.
The development of a successful apprenticeship is a craft in itself, requiring many adjustments and sacrifices on the part of both apprentice and teacher. The following are some of the specific requirements an apprentice must meet.1) Apprentices must bring some of their own basic hand tools. We will work on this list together based in part on your own goals. Here is the standard list.
2) Applicant must demonstrate some ability and knowledge in woodworking. Metalworking experience is helpful, but not a requirement. This program is geared toward those who have made an effort of their own. If you are not sure you qualify, I will be glad to offer you some early feedback if you will send me a snapshot or two of something you have made.
3) Apprentice must sign a comprehensive liability release and must provide ongoing proof of health insurance.
4) If invited to the position, a deposit of $500 must accompany apprentice's acceptance. This serves as evidence of your commitment to the program and to reserve your position. Apprentice will receive a full refund at the completion of their apprenticeship.
5) This program is more than a practical course in the furniture craft. We try to go as deep into the interior source of craft as we can. Applicants must enjoy reading (or at least frequenting museums), be eager to discuss new ideas, and willing to reveal their feelings and personal thinking. Difficult concepts and personal experiences are as much the material of craft as wood and metal.
I need two things from you: some snapshots of several projects and some answers to a few questions. Here are the details:1) SNAPSHOTS: Include about 10 snapshots of two or more wood furniture projects that you have completed. Wood sculpture or other crafts are accepted as long as they demonstrate your ability to think and build structurally with wood joinery. Other work such as, metalworking, design or illustration can be included as a supplement. Include some close-ups. On the back of each photo write your name and the year the item was completed. These projects don't have to be large or perfect. I just want to see what you have done so far. Please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for the return of your photos and other materials.
2) QUESTIONNAIRE: Click here to complete the questionnaire. Print out a hard copy for your application. If you need to, use the back or copy the questions onto your own paper.
Mail the photos and a printed copy of the questionnaire to the address below. Please don't e-mail your application. E-mail or phone may be used for questions about the apprenticeship or questions about the application and for one or two photos, if you wish for some early feedback. You will want to come and see the shop and the larger situation here. Please call or e-mail for directions and to arrange a suitable time.
David Orth
20817 Bunker Hill Road
Marengo, IL 60152Phone: 815-943-4099
E-mail: davidorth@OrthFurniture.com