Ever Wonder Who’s Making all of Makers’ Entry Shelves? 🤔
Meet Adam Collinson; the talented young woodworker who has built all of the Entry Shelving for our Ontario stores. Need custom shelving? He can help you with that too! Read on to learn more about Adam’s work.
Adam Collinson is a young entrepreneur who began woodworking at the age of only 14! After finding a love for woodworking projects, he created his own business in 2023, ‘Woodworking by Adam’. He now focuses on producing high quality, handcrafted items that will all undoubtedly become family heirlooms. All of Adam’s products are created using locally sourced materials from where he is based in Burlington, ON.
Learn more about Adam in our interview with him below!
Photo courtesy of Woodworking by Adam
When did you start woodworking and what prompted you to start?
I started woodworking in 2020 when I was 14 years old. I was originally introduced into woodworking by a family friend who I helped with some home renovation projects during COVID-19. He was looking for an extra hand and I was looking to get out of the house. He later encouraged me to start my first project which was an L-shaped computer desk made out of pallet wood. This project was pretty advanced for a beginner and not surprisingly, I experienced many setbacks along the way. However, I persevered, completed the project and still use the desk to this day. In high school I took woodshop, and developed an amazing connection with my teacher who challenged me to continue developing more advanced skills. In grade 12, he encouraged me to enter the Halton skills competition for furniture design where I won gold and advanced to provincials.
What is the thing you love most about woodworking?
What I love most about woodworking is how creative and relaxing it is for me. I love being able to wake up everyday and design and build something different. Some woodworkers focus on a small niche and end up mass producing the same item over and over. Whereas I love working with individual clients to design and create custom products that meet their needs. When woodworking, I get into a state of flow that’s very satisfying and allows me to focus on the project at hand. I really enjoy working with hardwoods, especially ones that are locally sourced. I focus on selecting specific woods for their natural colours and grain that will enhance the design of each specific project.
What is the project you've been most excited / most proud to have worked on? (No pressure at all for this to be Makers' entry shelves ;)
My favourite projects would have to be the Makers entry shelves and my personal custom coffee table. I loved building Makers’ shelves as it was my first time doing a large bulk order for a big company. This was an exciting challenge for me as I worked to build the shelves to the design specifications provided. In comparison, my custom live edge coffee table was a unique one of a kind piece that challenged my skills through the use of different wood joinery. It was my first time working with large stitch inlays and custom sculpted claro walnut legs. I am so pleased with how it turned out and am excited to design similar pieces in the future.
What's next for you and what goals do you have for Woodworking by Adam?
Goals? I have too many to count, but in September I will be starting to attend Sheridan College in their Furniture Design program, which is something I am incredibly excited about! I have always found throughout school I was daydreaming about the things I wanted to do. Now I am living that dream. For ‘Woodworking by Adam’, I want to continue expanding my customer base and enhancing my skills so that I can offer more complex and beautiful products to my customers. Recently I have also started offering a service where I can cut and dress wood for customers who do not have the necessary tools to complete the job. Currently, I have a pretty amazing workshop, but I am always looking to for new tools to expand my capabilities.
Interested in working with Adam? You can contact him for custom 2ft, 3ft and 4ft display projects at woodworkingbyadamc@gmail.com. You can also check out Adam’s work for sale in our Mapleview store where he’s a vendor! Visit his website and portfolio here.