Photo courtesy of Citizen Carpentry
Citizen Carpentry founder Marcis Curtis teaches the basics.
Across St. Louis, the handiwork of Citizen Carpentry and its band of carpenters is appearing.
They’ve made nesting tables for TechArtista, storage systems for South City Art Supply, a retail counter for Refab, bookshelves for Readers are Leaders; they’ve refurbished a deck in Soulard and rejuvenated an old mantle in the Grove. Along the way, they’ve turned reclaimed materials and trash into hand-wrought cutting boards, bed frames, and espresso tamps.
And now, through a Kickstarter, they’re hoping to broaden their reach, finish their workshop (located in an old brewery on Gravois, in the same building as the deconstruction and refabrication nonprofit Refab), then sell access to their shop to more people.
Co-founder Marcis Curtis says, “We want to talk with people and build up confidence around the things they can do with their hands.”
At Citizen Carpentry’s workshop, that covers “an abundance of possibilities.” From smaller woodworking tools—handheld hand planes and saws—to a broad range of power tools: drills, chop saws, table saws, planar, and, most recently, a laser cutter. Kickstarters and regular members can pay a monthly fee ($90, usually) for access to all of these tools, as well as to receive project consultations from the Citizen Carpentry team.
Curtis says that their goal is to bring back a love of technical work that’s been lost. “I really think vocational training has been marginalized,” he says. “A lot of people that I know that are involved in tech, or administrative, office-type jobs—they get a lot of pleasure out of working with their hands.”
More than that, Curtis says, St. Louis has an “amazing housing stock” to work with. People can revitalize their own neighborhoods, build up their communities, and use resources. Lowering barriers to starting projects by offering tools and training helps people and, says Curtis, “It opens their eyes to the possibilities available in our built environment.”
Photo courtesy of Citizen Carpentry
Citizen Carpentry built these shelves for South City Art Supply.
Citizen Carpentry’s work is broader than just the workshop. They run a work training program to help people who, for whatever reason, have trouble finding employment; they teach community members and children how to use tools; they salvage material and repurpose wood; and they work with a number of partners, from Refab to Perennial STL to Strange Folk Festival.
Curtis and his business partner, Emanuel Taranu, opened Citizen Carpentry in May 2015 as a for-profit enterprise, but so far, most of the company’s profits go back into the work, helping pay for vocational training, develop the workspace, and help St. Louis communities. Curtis says, “We’re a social enterprise,” and they focus on environmental, social, and economic sustainability, not profit.
Curtis and Taranu are looking for alternative business structures—like a worker-owned cooperative—that better reflect the company’s goals. And they’re moving towards having a tool-lending library, which would let members take Citizen Carpentry’s resources out of the workshop.
Right now, their resources spread in many directions, between training employees, building pieces for clients, providing community training and outreach, and expanding their work. In the long run, Curtis says, they may have to narrow their focus.
But whatever direction they choose to go, one thing will stay the same: “It’s all about bringing the entire city up,” says Curtis.
Photo courtesy of Citizen Carpentry
The Citizen Carpentry team (from left to right: apprentice Deondrae Boykin, co-founders Emanuel Taranu and Marcis Curtis, and member Kendra Mahr).
