Cory Warner

What kind of maker are you? (please include ALL mediums in which you create your art/craft) 

I consider myself a “traditional cabinetmaker;” basically this means I build furniture that will last a long time.

What inspired you to start making?

I was studying architecture/engineering in my late teens and early twenties. I worked as a draftsman, but I found myself drawn to the interiors of buildings more than anything during this time.

This slowly and unintentionally became a focus on furniture I would see in photographs of the older architectural styles I was studying. Eventually I became entirely fixated on this and realized that making furniture cut out a lot of the moving parts that were required to be successful in the career path I was on at that time.

Being able to design and build something without a huge reliance on people other than myself and the client felt more right for my personality, more sincere to who I am... for better or for worse.

Where are you based out of?

I am currently located in Lehi, Utah. My shop is where I live. I literally sleep above my shop.

What do you do for work currently?

I build furniture full time, repair and modify old motorcycles part time, and work at Salt Lake Community College in the furniture department as an assistant part time.

What is the most engaging part of building for you? What do you enjoy most? What do you enjoy least?

For me, the most engaging part of building furniture is problem solving. This occurs both in the design process, and in real time as I’m bringing an idea that was just on paper or in my head into something tangible.

The past year or so, I have really been paying a lot of attention to the boards I buy, and the grain patterns I can get it to yield if I am patient and strategic about it. I’m a pretty quiet person, and I think that my furniture is too. I look for what I consider quiet grain, or if there is something wild going on, it is contained in fairly quiet grain. 

When do you feel most inspired? 

I’m most inspired when I’m working in my shop, without a lot of distraction in my life outside of that space.

When I’m not in my shop, I’m looking through old furniture reference books, or handling certain objects that make me understand the importance of the human hand in the “built environment.” I collect a lot of ceramics.

Scrolling through shit on my phone mostly just frustrates me or makes me feel overwhelmed, so I try to keep my time looking at a screen to a minimum. The internet mostly just keeps people from actually making things, so while I know it can be a great resource, I think at the end of the day I’m better off just making things,  that includes the things that don’t work out in the end. 

I think cutting a set of really bad dovetails that at least kind of worked is better than watching 5 videos of people explaining how they cut dovetails, and why their method is correct and other people are not doing it right.

Seek instruction by whatever means you can, but at the end of the day, you have to find what works for you, with what you have, or can get at some point.

Where do you want to take your building and designing skills? What do you hope to learn and do with your career? 

I think in general I’m on the path I’d like to be. I don’t have a very competitive spirit, so for me it is always about making sure I’m getting better than I was yesterday, or last week. I have been doing that and not doing that for a few years now.

If I’m not making the same mistakes, or if I’m finding that the joinery I use is getting more accurate and more quickly to produce good results, I’m happy about that.

If I can get to a spot where I’m building furniture full-time and not having to do other things to get by, that’d be an ideal life for me. Right now, that isn’t totally the case, but I’m not too bothered by that. 

Patience is a big part of building furniture whether you do it as a hobby or to make a living. 

What are some of the biggest challenges you face as a custom builder and designer?

Managing the amount of time per day I get to spend in my shop right now is a huge battle. There always seems to be something keeping me out of the shop, or that I’m not in there long enough to finish a process or step. I have way too many unfinished and/or experimental things going on in my shop…

What are some pieces that you’ve made that you are the most proud of?

I’m proud of the chairs and stools I’ve made. Not that they probably stand out to a lot of people as that unique… I just know how much of a mental hurdle it was to even think I might be good enough to make chairs. They’re kind of that hallmark thing you can make out of wood, there’s a lot more going on in a “good” chair than I think most people understand, and to set about actually making something like that is a challenge. 

What is your favorite tool/instrument/toy right now?

I don’t use it as much currently these days since I have been using machinery more, but my favorite tool will always be a plow plane. Always.

Favorite design style: (This can include interior design, photography, painting, architecture, anything!)

I don’t know if it’s a design style, but I’m constantly thinking about “post and rung” chair construction. In some ways it could be considered a step backwards as far as what some people would expect from me, but it’s always been something that visually “sang” to me. 2020 was a good year to experiment with some of these ideas when the volume of commissions I was doing had declined.

To be honest, a lot of my experiments were total failures that people won’t ever see, but those experiences were rewarding in a kind of humbling way. Making furniture has an appeal to me in that way, you can never stop getting better at it.

What skill do you most want to learn?

I’m always playing around with every form of carving, but it rarely shows up in my furniture in a big way. I’d like to get better at that, even if it doesn’t show up in the work I actually sell.

I also need to keep working on my steam bending techniques. I’m re-thinking a lot of things about the process and tools I use for steam bending. There’s a lot that could be better, or at the very least more predictable.

Favorite thing to listen to while you work:

I have a pretty terrible taste in music, but it works out because I spend a lot of time alone.

Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Mortician in my shop. Even other people who like death metal don’t like Mortician. I wear headphones though; my cat isn’t a fan of Mortician and he likes to sleep a lot.   

Favorite outfit/footwear to wear to work:

Thorogood boots, and as stated above, I’m alone a lot. I try to not wear a shirt whenever I can get away with it. I’m trying to develop a reputation of being the Matt Pike of woodworking.

Favorite post-work activity to unwind: 

Reading, playing banjo, and watching birds with my cat.

Favorite food:

I love inexpensive pasta; you must learn to love what sustains you.

Favorite band: 

My answer to this question for the last 15 years was the band Off Minor. It occurred to me recently that it had been a while since I really listened to them in depth, so I started listening to them a bunch again, and playing bass along to their music at.

So, I can now say with confidence that I’ve been right for the last 15 years.

Listen to Off Minor. Listen to anything with Jamie Behar on guitar and you’ll understand.

Or you won’t understand, that is okay too.

Favorite place you’ve traveled: 

The Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. I love all of Pennsylvania, except for Pittsburgh. I tolerate Pittsburgh, at best.

Place you want to travel to most and why: 

Certain small towns in Germany and Russia, mostly because of my ancestry.

If you could collaborate with one maker/artist (living or dead) who would it be?

Duane Paluska, who unfortunately passed away at the beginning of this year.

Rest in peace Duane.

Where can people contact you and find out more about you?

www.wheatandtares.com is my website.

@wheatandtares is my Instagram handle.

cory@wheatandtares.com is my business email.