Kalia Kliban

Woodworker

I was raised in a house full of creativity and art supplies.  Though my parents were both cartoonists by trade, they spent a lot of time working with other media, making jewelry, furniture, sculpture and clothing according to whim or need.  In college, I decided on a career in graphic design, but after a short and unhappy stint in the advertising industry realized that I preferred making actual, physical things.  I retrained as a woodworker and have been much more happily, though less lucratively, working with wood ever since.

Most of my woodworking career has been spent making furniture and cabinets, with a little side trip into guitar repair and making guitar parts, but I’ve loved turning from the first time a friend plonked me down in front of his lathe and chucked in a piece of madrone. I still use the carving mallet I made that day, my first turned object, and have been extending and improving my skills ever since.

I love wooden bowls and plates.  They feel good.  They’re useful and beautiful, and they can last a lifetime.  A well-made bowl can be a wonderful way to honor the tree the wood came from, and a wonderful way to grace a table.