Tag: handmade benefits

In a world where you can order almost anything with next-day delivery, talking about “handmade” might sound old-fashioned. But here in our Tucson workshop, as Rex turns another piece of cherry wood on the lathe and Dawn carefully measures resin colors, we’re reminded daily why handmade isn’t just different — it’s better.

When Rex shapes a block of wood into a crochet hook or transforms a slab of Australian red gum burl into a bowl, he’s not just producing an object. He’s having a conversation with the wood, responding to its grain patterns, working around natural imperfections that tell the story of how that tree lived and grew. You can’t program that kind of intuition into a machine.

We source our materials thoughtfully — some from suppliers like Cook Woods and Woodworkers Source, others from local businesses clearing out cutoffs that would otherwise become waste. Dawn’s resin work, often using Alumilite products and P-Town Subbie micas, adds colors and effects that are impossible to replicate in a factory setting. Each pour is slightly different, affected by temperature, humidity, even the mood of the artist.

Mass-produced items can achieve consistency, which has its place. But consistency also means predictability. When you walk into someone’s home and see the exact same cutting board you have, the exact same pen set, there’s no story there. It’s just stuff.

Handmade carries intention. When you pick up one of our pieces, you’re holding something that exists because Rex or Dawn decided it should exist, in exactly that way, with exactly those wood grains and resin swirls. That’s why people treasure a handcrafted pen for decades while a plastic one gets forgotten in a drawer.

There’s also the matter of durability. Rex has been perfecting his craft for over 40 years. When he turns a rolling pin or shapes a knife handle, he’s thinking about how it will feel in your hands not just today, but years from now. We’re not interested in planned obsolescence — we want to make pieces that last long enough to become heirlooms.

Choosing handmade means supporting real people with real skills. When you buy from us, you’re not just getting a product — you’re investing in Rex’s decades of expertise, Dawn’s artistic vision, and our commitment to sustainable practices that give new life to materials that might otherwise be discarded.

In our convenience-obsessed world, handmade offers something radical: permanence, beauty, and the irreplaceable value of human touch. That’s not old-fashioned. That’s timeless.