As told to Jeannette Batz Cooperman
Photograph by Mark Gilliland
Master woodworker Boris Khechoyan grew up in Baku, Azerbaijan. In 1988, he gathered up his handmade tools and art books and fled as an Armenian refugee, first to Moscow, then to St. Louis. Now he exhibits internationally and teaches woodworking to students from all over the world. He and his wife, Irina, are rearing their son and daughter in Crestwood. From the outside, their home is an unassuming ranch-style house; inside, it could be a turn-of-the-century mansion, every detail a work of art.
When you are living with beautiful things, your life is changed already.
A chisel is sharp; use it lightly. Otherwise you are wasting your power.
If I can help someone, it is an honor. No way will I say, “Hey, you owe me.” I won’t have friendships like that.
If you are greedy, you don’t talk with people, your eyes are moving all the time, your scowl is hard.
People talk a lot; they talk sweet—but the words are not friends with what they do.
The more you talk, the less you do. That is why politicians do nothing. I’m tired of watching these guys; they become boring for me. Better to carve something.
I give people a chance to cheat me: OK, go ahead. It’s better if it happens now than later. It will hurt more if we have become like brothers.
If I lend people money and they don’t pay me back, what did they win? It is paper. But tomorrow, if they need my help, I will think first, and maybe it will be their life at stake.
When I was younger, I never talked about myself. Then I saw that the person whose carving is not as good but who talks, everybody is talking about him. People who advertise themselves force you to think about them. I didn’t know that.
I teach my children [Yuri, 9, and Alice, 6] to listen to me one time. I will not come second time telling them; I will do it myself: “Yuri, turn off TV.” Click. Goodbye.
I hide nothing from my students. I say, “If you become better than me, I will be happy.”
For me, the big question is how we became humans. Why is there still a missing link?
All the time I wish I could be with my camera in the Stone Age, then the Bronze Age, then the Ice Age, to show everybody what really happened. I want to open the eyes of scientists, who are wasting so much time and still cannot give the right answers.
When I first came to this country it was easier, because I was not scared to lose everything I had.
What is romantic? Everything becomes quiet and happy around you, and you can dream, make someone happy and be happy yourself. Then you come back to real life.
To be happily married? Become a good person yourself.
Not lying to yourself, that is the best way to be honest to God.
I could do simple things and make my life easier—but I would not be happy.
If parents cannot give love, people in their twenties become wild; they leave from the tree. Whichever way the wind blows, they will fly.
At 20, it’s so easy to make mistakes. Everything revolves around you.
At 40, what is hard is having lots of responsibility. You cannot close your eyes to things.
