If you were looking for a regular woodworking book, where you can find practical projects to use around the house with wood that you can find at your local hardware store, you have chosen the wrong book. Woodworking: Traditional Craft for Modern Living by Andrea Brugi and Samina Langholz is for the person with found wood pieces, like driftwood, or reclaimed wood, such as from a barn, or some other unique piece of wood.

Created as kind of a half guide, half design book, the authors have showcased their work in an entertaining and attractive manner. Although most of the projects can be completed by beginners, this is in not a beginners guide to woodworking.

The first part of the Introduction is “Confluence of Minds” where the authors explain how they came together on woodworking. “Broken is Beautiful” follows about the unique pieces of wood they choose.

Working With Wood is next covering three sections, Stories of Wood, Stories of Tools, and Techniques. The Projects follow in four sections, Found Wood, Reclaimed Wood, Solid Wood, and Fine Wood. Each section offers 5 projects.

Inspiration And Context

The book includes a lot of the authors’ ideas and beliefs about wood and woodworking. There is a great deal of design discussion and philosophy behind how they use wood and the pieces they choose. This can help you understand where the authors are coming from when they chose the right piece of wood or the right project.

Throughout the book, the pictures beautifully capture the wood and the projects. While there are many pictures of various steps in the process I wouldn’t classify them as the kind of picture that shows you how to do that step. The pics are more to show you at what point you will be when working on that step.

The projects themselves are a good mix. There are decorative (wall hangings, keychain, etc.) and practical projects too (like a table, chopping board etc.). This will be an excellent book for anyone wanting to be a bit more artistic and needing inspiration.

Reviewed for LnkToMi iRead in response to a complimentary copy of the book provided by the publisher in hopes of an honest review.

A look at woodworking through a simpler lens. Most woodworking books seem to concentrate on fancy tools or elaborate techniques. The authors take a different route, using simple tools and wood to create artistic little projects. Nice photos. It really reminded me of my grandfather's workshop, where he would make fun little objects with scraps of wood and no power tools.

This is an intensely stylish, modern-traditional book of woodworking projects and ideas. The designs are all very simple and minimalistic and the techniques used require only hand and basic power tools, making this ideal for beginning woodworkers with a strong aesthetic.

I didn't know what to expect when reading this book. But, the projects in this book are great for such things has household projects and gifts such as storage and useful items. One that stands out in my mind is making wooden spoons -- very creative and valuable. This book is well written with details complete with everything you need. If you are looking for a woodworking book this is a great value -- very useful and well designed including great photos.

I received a free digital version of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The pictures in this book are beautiful and it is laid out nicely. However, I found the projects did not really pique my interest. It may be a good book to read more about woodworking and types of wood though for some.

Woodworking is a well curated woodworking book which is half tutorial/learning guide and half design/art book. It showcases the artistry and design work of husband and wife team Andrea Brugi and Samina Langholz who re-cycle, upcycle, and transform wood into functional and elegant objects.

This is a very honest book. The pieces which they create have artistic integrity totally without pretentiousness. They're useful and beautiful but not delicate or fussy. Though the book is well photographed, it feels quite natural. The humor and love with which the artists create their objects shines through in the photos and in the objects themselves. They represent what I would call primitive or naive. There are no fussy furbelows or gewgaws to be found here, only solidity and purpose.

There is a fair bit of philosophy included in the book. The authors spent a lot of content discussing their artistic choices and the merits of different woods and how they let particular pieces of wood speak to them and in a way determine what it (the wood) becomes. This is not a step by step tutorial book. There's no rigid pattern following. In fact, the book has no templates at all. It's not that kind of book.

I didn't find the artist statement and philosophy at all distracting, in fact, I liked the more complete and balanced sense of artistic purpose and I think it gives a good insight into their creative process. The reader obviously will take away the bits which apply to their own needs, but having a glimpse into their perspective and thought processes was very interesting and useful. Some of the projects in the book are fairly impractical, decorative ladders, found wood/driftwood wall hangings on a brass ring, etc. Other projects are functional, solid and breathtakingly simple. There's a half lap construction table with a top made from repurposed wall boards in a natural finish that is absolutely gorgeous in its simplicity. He makes it look easy.

I don't know how practical this book would be strictly from a pattern/project standpoint. The value of the book for me comes from the philosophy and artistry of the projects and from getting a glimpse into their creative process. It's not a very long book, but it's lavish and really beautiful.

Five stars
144 pages, hardbound and ebook formats.
Published by Quarto - Jacqui Small publishing with a release date of 22 March, 2018

I loved this book. The look of it made me want to read it cover to cover and I always enjoy a book that so beautifully shows something being made by hand. I have recently started carving wooden spoons and this is a book that I would love to add to my collection to further my skills.

#Woodworking #NetGalley #Wood #Hobbies

Andrea and Samina share their passion to create rustic and trendy accessories in wood. The perfect accent for a more warn and more peaceful room.

Very well written, organized, and aesthetically pleasing book! I loved the projects and the range from easier to harder. I felt like it was a very well curated piece for beginners hobbyists

This is a beautiful book with lots of ideas on making household items from wood, that is found, forest, recycled or specialised amongst the projects. The projects are very simple, but in their simplicity is a special skill of working and knowing wood.
This is a lovely book, the project are easy, some for beginners but not all, some will require guidance and assist if you haven't much experience with wood.
The photography is beautiful and the instruction and information given is excellent, and the results are lovely. Well worthwhile book to have

A very interesting book and actually made me realise how many things we could make ourselves with a little bit of effort!

I will admit that woodworking is not something that I would know anything about but I have always been interested in up cycling and reusing old pieces of furniture.

The projects that stood out to me as easy for me to try (with a little help!) were the magnetic knife holder and The chopping board. They look beautiful and would definitely be incredibly useful!

An interesting book with quirky ideas. Be good for the wood work class at college to give them more info about the types of woods and what can be made thinking outside of the box.