[ Artist / Within ] Inside his crafting space, Stephon opens up about his journey and aspirations in woodworking

There’s this meme I see on social media where you have to guess what your friends do for a living. The idea is that you realize, despite listening to their retellings of things happening at work, you don’t actually know what they do. I think that’s a little bit of how I felt about my friend’s husband, Stephon Beckford. I knew he did woodworking and had his own carpentry business, but I never understood the depths of his passion and trajectory in this craftsman journey.

I was very excited about this conversation simply because I know Stephon is a natural conversationalist and storyteller. Every interaction I have with him, I walk away learning something new and completely out of my purview of initial interest. But that’s why I had to have him a part of this Artist/Within series because Stephon has such a breadth of knowledge and respect for his craft that made me feel energized and curious to learn more. That thirst for knowledge is what keeps him going in this niche space, and what will eventually lead to creating his own furniture line.

What are you making here?

Yeah, so these [slabs of wood] are going to be two side tables. Once I'm done, I'm going to put a base on it. I have to do a lot more sanding and cleaning — make everything really smooth before I put the wax finish on it. I want make my first two Etsy pieces, and then this [other piece] is going to be my mom's coffee table.

Where are you getting your ideas from?

Live-edge furniture is a thing. I don't think they're as big of a deal anymore, but it's definitely — I don't want to say a trending thing — but it's definitely a statement piece in someone’s house.

What made you decide to try [selling furniture on] Etsy?

Well, actually I think it was really just research. I'm trying to get more into just making the [furniture] pieces that I want to make versus doing all the time custom stuff for other people — because A) it comes with too much headache and B) it just drains from the creativity that I want to exercise and express. When you're too stuck trying to make other people's [furniture], and all the specs that come with it, it gets tiring and draining.

So by making your own pieces, you get to exercise your own creativity…

And I get money off of it, really, [because it’s] the vehicle that Etsy provides. I [get to] make what I want to make, and it’ll be this thing where I'm like, ‘Man, I really like this piece. I'm going to put this piece at this price because this is what I feel like it's worth.’ And then some random person out there is like, ‘Wow, I love this.’

So it's kind of [building] for yourself?

Yeah, essentially. Yeah.

Did you feel like you weren't [building for yourself] when you first started?

No, when I started, I definitely felt like I was doing things for myself. Then I started to love woodworking so much to the point where I also started to gain [a new level of] confidence. I could work in a shop and make this a whole career, which I didn't really think about at first so much. I think the whole drive for woodworking was me wanting to learn [more of] it moreso than making a living off of it. And then I kind of got caught up in [the idea of making a living off of it], and I think there was a part of me that lost that edge for just wanting to build and make things [for myself].

I feel like that happens for anybody who discovers their artistic talent and then realize, ‘Oh, I can make a living off of this.’ But do you think it's only like that because we're in New York?

I don't really think it has to do with being in New York. Obviously, the idea of having more than one hustle and [more than one] source of income definitely plays a factor in living out here. But when you have a passion that could also be aligned with a service, you cross a space where you’re using your creative juices, but it's at the [whim] of service for other people versus service for myself. It comes with its own level of mental fortitude — there have been plenty of times when I have a client who tells me they want something done a specific way, and I have to [push back and say], ‘This is just not right.’ But at the end of the day, they're paying me for this stuff.

It has to be this balance of who you're doing [the art] for.

That's the thing too. I'm trying to lean back into doing more one-off pieces of furniture — what I want to create just to exercise and fulfill that [natural] knack of things while also finding a way to still make money.

How'd you get into woodworking?

It was during the pandemic when I lost my job. I always wanted to get into woodworking but I didn't have any outlet. I was actually asking around and talking about it with friends, and then one of my homies told me some guy came to his house to look to do an estimate on cabinets for his mom. He left [the man’s] card and said, ‘Yo, you should just holler at him yourself and see if he's willing to take on an apprentice.’ I was just like, ‘Yeah, f*ck it. It's a pandemic. I'm already getting unemployment [pay]. I've lost my job. There's not really much else I'm doing out here.’

And then from there, I was connected to the person who was looking for apprentices, and he became my first mentor, Mr. G, in this [industry]. He was the one that really gave me my start, gave me a shot where I could come into the shop [any day] and fool around with [woodworking]. That's kind of how it really started.

It's crazy to think I started in 2020, and now, next year is going to be my fourth year [woodworking]. It happened fast, but each space [I’ve worked at] has shown me something new. This is such an ever-changing industry, with new technology, new machines, and products — there's still always a space for [the industry] to evolve. But there are also a lot of old school [methods] that people are still utilizing out here so I'm trying to keep up with all the new [change] while still learning the old school [methods], too.

Do you think because the woodworking industry is so evolving that makes it more enticing or exciting for you?

Definitely. I think there's always a space where you can learn something new in. There are seven core skills in woodworking, and out of those seven core skills, three of them are always going to be blind spots for you. You're going to be focusing on X, Y, and Z, and then you realize, ‘Oh sh*t, I haven't done this in a while.’ So there’s always something that you're going to have to brush back up on.

It's this evolving cycle of, ‘I got to do this, I got to get right with that,’ so I always get to perfect and fine tune that skillset. At the end of the day, [woodworking] is a profession, a hobby, and it's fulfilling my creative bug.

Right, so it's fulfilling multiple needs for yourself.

Exactly, [and I achieve that] the more I keep putting time into perfecting my craft and developing my own lane with woodworking, as far as what it is I want to focus on — whether I’m going to sit back and always make cabinets or I'm going to [build] live-edge furniture. I definitely want to keep putting in my time, and hours, to find out what that is for me.

So what have you learned about yourself doing this?

I learned that I'm not a very patient person, really. Seriously, if there's one quality that I feel like every good woodworker has, it's attention to detail and being very intricate. But patience, I think is number one.

Patience in what exactly?

Being very detail-oriented. I think those two — patience and detail-oriented — go hand-in-hand. You can't rush anything in this field, [such as] the process. A lot of times, when you’re frivolously fast and you come in with a, ‘I just want to get this done’ attitude, the work always in some way will show for itself. But that’s what really entices me about this whole industry — there are so many levels to it, and as you grow with the craft, your work speaks for itself, too.

How do you keep the boundaries between work and enjoying the craft?

Still trying to figure that part out. That's a really tough thing. Right now, where I'm at in this woodworking [journey], I'm in this gray area because I'm not an apprentice anymore, but I'm also not at the level of a top master carpenter. I still have to put a lot of time in. So unfortunately, due to the late start that I had in woodworking, and where things are in my personal life, I [often ask myself], ‘Do I just focus on the craft and not lean on the professional [aspect] so much or do I [focus on the] way I want to do it?’ [Such as] focusing on building one-off furniture for Etsy while still learning new stuff.

That’s where I'm at personally right now — trying to figure out what the next step is. It's tough because as far as the work side of things are concerned, I want to eventually gain enough credentials and experience to be able to become a shop manager, project manager shop, but that's the professional side of things. I guess the artistic, creative side of me wants to be able to have my own furniture line — make and pump out pieces — which I still think is something that I could do, too.

Either way [this journey] is headed towards, whether it’s running a business or creating furniture, you're still staying in woodworking.

Exactly, it’s finding that balance of making a living while satisfying my creative side and creating space and time to build the stuff that I still want to build. It's just tough when you are working in a shop 10 hours a day, and your body's beat [at the end of it]. The last thing you really want to do is work on your own stuff — it takes a lot of mental fortitude. It's like, I want to just leave this [shop already].

Is there ever a time where you're on the edge of giving up on that dream?

I wouldn't say completely. Regardless of whether I go [somewhere tomorrow] and start some other business or whatever, at heart, I'm always going to consider myself a woodworker, and still mention to people that I make furniture. This is a thing that I do, and I'm pretty committed to always having that space in my life. I'm always going to have some kind of set up with my tools. If I go back to work in corporate, I'm still always going to create a space for me to consider myself a woodworker and always work on something.

What I’m always thinking is, I'm like is, ‘How far and at what cost do I want to continue this?’ It's really a dying trade. These young kids don't want to do sh*t like this anymore. It's a shame because personally, wood is the ultimate medium — wood is one of the natural elements in this world that depicts so much correlation to human life. All nations and civilizations, so much of everything, really had involvement with wood.

After working long days, how do you get back into [your creative] flow?

Honestly, I think when you’re creating for yourself, working from rest is always way more beneficial for what you're doing versus working from a tired, exhausted headspace. For me, it's really about creating a space where you make sure your energy is reset and checked. I've learned to not beat myself up, especially after working in a shop late, because I'm just tired. I've learned to not feel guilty over not creating time nor space for my craft. At the end of the day, the work kind of suffers when you’re not in the best headspace to create and think. I just have to be in the right energy space to make the stuff I want to make.

Do you want to put out your own [pieces] more? For example, market yourself more?

I do want to sell myself and my brand as a woodworker. That's actually a much more fulfilling lane for me. The thing with the woodworking industry is that you could say you want something done, and there are seven to eight people that could do it and do it all with the same quality. Every one of them might have a different process in how they [build] it, but at the end of the day, you're going to get the same product done.

But for me, because this is considered a white-dominated field, there' aren’t too many people on this side of the fence that are doing in woodworking, also. There's a part of me that wants to market myself and make a style of furniture that also [represents] me and what I want to express.

How do you think working with you would be different from someone else who could build the same products?

I really take the time to really talk with the client,especially when I'm doing something for a residential space, and ask key things about the functionality, why you want this piece here, etc. I go and I actually see this space. There's a world that could exist where I just tell a client over the phone, ‘Hey, give me the dimensions of what you want. I'll send you some color samples and give me three weeks and I'll get back to you.’ Versus actually taking the time to go to somebody's living space, see what it's hitting for, and even offer feedback such as, ‘Hey, maybe if you went with this color, it would bring out what you have in your window trim and the molding on the walls,’ — I keep it personalized.

I consider myself to be a very people person. Giving a personal connection with the client— asking them and seeing their space. That's one thing that I offer: coming from a more personable space with [the process] and focusing on curating furniture that's going to enhance your space. I think that's really one of the main goals that I like to take away when I am doing a personal commission from somebody.

They're not just getting a product, they're getting something that is unique to their lifestyle.

I think every piece has a story, and the more time and the more effort you put into the pieces, the better the story is.

But it's just funny. People ask me all kinds of questions. If they see [a piece I made], they'll be like, ‘Oh, this is nice.’ And I say, ‘That was from a client I had who had some throwaway shit, and I was thought, ‘Yo, I could cook something up with this.’’ So it's pretty funny when you get to this side of the story aspect of [woodworking]. You could really say, ‘This was wood from whatever.’ That's for a good story.

I think that makes sense. You're saying there's always a story that comes with a piece of furniture.

Most of Southeast Asia has a lot of rules and regulations on cutting down trees. They don't want shit to get extinct. For example, there's this thing called veneer, which is pretty much taking paper thin layer from a tree and laminating it on plywood. Essentially, it makes more use out of the tree versus cutting down one tree [for a whole piece]. It's definitely not so much to preserve the tree, but I guess, not to waste it.

Speaking to what I was saying before about how there are so many factors to understanding wood, and how there are all kinds of different techniques and products that evolve over the years. Back in the day, they would've never really had a reason to make veneers because we were just going to chop down the tree. But then [things like] capitalism that overdid [cutting down the trees].

Do you feel like you have almost a responsibility in working with wood and making sure that it's done properly, also sustainably?

Oh, no, definitely. The more you know about the type of wood that you're dealing with, you develop a personal connection with the medium in which you're working with and doing it. For example, we did a job for Martha Stewart, it was this type of wood called Yew. We were milling the wood down and cutting it to size — it's a long process — but it looks pretty like this afterwards. It's real simple. But we had to wear a mask on with the Yew wood because there's so much toxic shit with it. We had to wear hazmat suits up in there.

Then one night I went on a massive Google search and learned that this [Yew wood] is crazy. I've never heard of this. I found out that that's the type of wood that they used to kill Julius Caesar, apparently. So there's a little historical value in it.

I think [the constant learning] keeps you going in this craft.

Regardless of what I do work-wise or professionally, I always want to make room to ensure I'm satisfying that — always learning. It's going to be tough, but it’s something I always want to make sure I'm making space for.

This is a story from my ongoing artist portrait series and editorial campaign entitled Artist/Within. It is a collection of conversations I’ve captured with the artists in my life, revealing the delicate balance they maintain between their daily routines and the pursuit of their artistic passions.

Read other conversations within the collection here.