Maggie Fergusson

Imperfections in wood can make for the loveliest carvings

Often beneath the surface of a knobbly lump bulging from the side of a tree ‘a myriad of swirling, almost impossibly beautiful clusters is hiding’, bursting with creative possibility

Callum Robinson. [Credit: Marc Millar] 
issue 17 August 2024
  • Comments

  • Ingrained: The Making of a Craftsman

    Callum Robinson

    Doubleday, pp. 307, £22

I am married to a wood snob. When we bought our house in 1999, my husband insisted that all the shelves (he is an antiquarian book dealer, so there are miles of them) should be made of ‘real’ wood, with not an inch of Medium Density Fibreboard. The price made me squeal.

GIF Image

Disagree with half of it, enjoy reading all of it

TRY A MONTH FREE
Our magazine articles are for subscribers only. Try a month of Britain’s best writing, absolutely free.

Read next

Trending

Brendan O’Neill

How America betrayed Edan Alexander

When a US citizen, just 19, was taken captive by a fascist militia, what did America’s progressives do? They cosplayed as his captors. They wrapped their faces in the keffiyeh in gleeful mimicry of the militants who seized their compatriot. They cheered the jailers of their fellow citizen. ‘Glory to our martyrs’, some cried, ‘martyrs’

More on ash

Also by Maggie Fergusson

Latest

Comments

Join the debate, free for a month

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first month free.

Already a subscriber? Log in