Barn the Spoon

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Barn the Spoon
Barn the Spoon
Born
Barnaby Alexander Carder

1981 (age 42–43)
Oxford, Oxfordshire
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Artist, spoon carver, author
Websitebarnthespoon.com

Barnaby Alexander Carder, known as Barn the Spoon (born 1981), is a British artisan spoon carver, teacher, author and co-founder of Spoonfest, the annual international festival of spoon carving in Edale in Derbyshire, UK.[1] He is also founder of the Green Wood Guild, a collective of green wood carvers who run carving workshops[2] and owns a spoon shop and woodworking venue in Hackney in London's East End. Carder also teaches spoon carving, woodworking and bladesmithing (with master smith Nic Westermann).[3]

Early life and education[edit]

Carder was born in Oxford[4] in November 1981[5] and grew up in Berkshire.[6] At the age of 12 a neighbour introduced him to woodturning by showing him how to make bowls[7] and soon he had a lathe in the garage of his parents' house.[8] He graduated from Bristol University with a degree in biology, intending initially to become a biology teacher before becoming apprenticed to a cabinet maker.[9] After apprenticing himself to green wood worker Mike Abbott in Hereford, he then spent 3 years working in forestry and living in the forests, sourcing green wood.[7] It was while living in the woods he began to carve and then sell spoons for a living travelling between Oxford and Bristol,[10] finding that the spoons sold better in cities.[7] Carder holds an official pedlar's licence for this purpose.[7]

Spoons and green wood carving[edit]

Carder is founder of The Green Wood Guild, London's school of traditional woodwork, based at Stepney City Farm.[11] The guild provides courses in woodworking, carving, whittling and bladesmithing and runs two regular clubs, Whittlers Anonymous and Spoonclub.[11]

Carder uses freshly cut (green) wood and traditional techniques to carve his spoons, usually using an axe, spoon knife (a curved bladed knife for hollowing out the bowl of the spoon), and small carving knife.[7][12] The wood is sourced locally from parks in and around London and is recycled from trees which have been removed for conservation reasons.[13] Carder states that a single spoon can take him from twenty minutes to two hours to carve.[6] He opened his Hackney Road shop at the end of 2012 and carves in the shop window, where people often stop to watch.[13][6]

Carder has a display of some of his spoons in the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts[14] and his spoons have also sold in the Conran shop in Tokyo.[2] In 2016 Carder and Robin Wood joined Stevie Parle during London Craft Week to explore wood-fired cooking and how dining from wooden utensils can affect the experience of eating.[15] Carder has been described by the press as "legendary"[16] and it has been said that "No one in Britain knows more about crafting a spoon from green wood than Barn the Spoon".[17]

In May 2017 following the release of his book, Carder announced the lease on his shop is to expire and he hopes to leave London to be closer to nature. He launched a '1000 spoons' project where he intends to carve 1000 spoons from a single tree, using any profits to plant and maintain his own woodland.[18]

Teaching[edit]

Carder teaches spoon and bowl carving at his shop on the Hackney Road and has run courses at various other venues around the UK including Stepney City Farm, Tate Britain, the Pitt Rivers Museum[19] and Heal's.[20][21]

In May 2017 Carder published his first book, a spoon carving guide entitled Spon: A Guide to Spoon Carving and the New Wood Culture published by Penguin Books.[12] 'Spon' refers to the Anglo-Saxon English word for a wood chip which is believed to be the etymological root of spoon.[22] In it Carder shows techniques and the appropriate use of tools used in creating different types of spoon.[23] Carder explains the need to think in three dimensions, as with other forms of sculpture, and has said "Perfection is always just a spoon away."[17]

Spoonfest[edit]

Banner entrance to Spoonfest

Carder is co-founder of Spoonfest with Robin Wood MBE (trustee and ex-chairman of the Heritage Crafts Association).[24][25] Spoonfest is an annual international festival of spoon carving that has been held in Edale, Derbyshire[22][26] since 2012, with 200 people attending in the first year.[27]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Woodsmen Barnaby Carder". Elle. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  2. ^ a b Tassell, Tony. "FT Masterclass: spoon carving with Barnaby Carder". Financial Times. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  3. ^ Cooper, Jonny. "How an axe-forging workshop brought out my inner craftsman". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  4. ^ "Entry Information: Births Dec 1981 Carder, Barnaby Alexander". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  5. ^ "Barnaby Alexander Carder". Companies House. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  6. ^ a b c Ranscombe, Siân. "Barnaby Carder, the British spoon-carver". The Telegraph. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Barn the Spoon, Spoon Carver". Spitalfields Life. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  8. ^ "The Spoon Carving Enthusiast". BBC World Service. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  9. ^ "Barnaby Carder – The Spoon Whittler". Woodworkers Institute. GMC Publications LTD. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  10. ^ Galliver, John. "The man who makes his living whittling wooden spoons". BBC News. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  11. ^ a b "Wood". Stepney City Farm. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  12. ^ a b "Spon A Guide to Spoon Carving and the New Wood Culture". Penguin books. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  13. ^ a b Chia, Jessica. "Barnaby Carder carves his spoons at shop-front door". East London Lines. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  14. ^ Knox, Robert. "Time for John Singer Sargent at Duxbury museum". Boston Globe. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  15. ^ Howells, Tom. "See the wood for the trees: Robin Wood and Barn the Spoon do dinner at Craft". Wallpaper. Time Inc. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  16. ^ Frizzell, Nell. "The best craft festivals around the country". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  17. ^ a b Henley, Jon. "Carve your own spoon". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  18. ^ Cooper, Jonny. "Carving out a new life as a spoon whittler". The Telegraph. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
  19. ^ "Spring 2016" (PDF). The Friends of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford Magazine. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 January 2017. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  20. ^ "Make it". Tate Britain. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  21. ^ "Barnaby Carder Spatula Carving Workshop". Heals. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  22. ^ a b Fox, Killian. "What we love about food in 2017". The Observer. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  23. ^ The Spoon, Barn (2017). Spon: A Guide to Spoon Carving and the New Wood Culture. Penguin (Virgin Books). ISBN 978-0753545973.
  24. ^ Wallis Simons, Jake. "The joys of whittling". The Telegraph. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  25. ^ "Spoonfest". Companies in the UK. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  26. ^ Ventoso, Luis. "Relájate: talla cucharas de madera". ABC. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  27. ^ Simons, Jake Wallis (11 January 2013). "The joys of whittling". Retrieved 21 February 2020.

External links[edit]

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