Nick Offerman, King of the Crafts

This article started because I wanted to highlight some Parks and Rec-themed crafts to celebrate the return of the show (which premieres Thursday at 8/7c). But I was soon off on a tangent reading about Nick Offerman, who plays the iconic Ron Swanson.

Offerman's first love may be acting, but crafting runs a passionate close second. Offerman is an avid and accomplished fine woodworker.

The Parks and Rec scene where he fills time on a late-night public access telethon by explaining how to cane a chair? Not acting. The scene where Mark Brandanawicz visits Swanson's woodshop and is greeted by a hand-made canoe and a host of code violations? That's Offerman's real-life woodworking studio, and yes, he made that canoe by hand. (The code violations were fabricated for the scene.)

When interviewed by the Craft Council of America, Offerman explained that craft "carries a lot of medicine." He worked as a professional scenery builder for years before turning his attention to construction and furniture, from creating wooden decks to showpiece dining room tables. Offerman's studio is still a working business, with handcrafted wooden items from cutting boards to gorgeous desks for sale.

Offerman particularly connects with making desks and beds, because they are lasting items that are so crucial to our everyday lives. "You're making someone the board off which they'll feed themselves. Or they'll play cards, or they'll drink and have a rousing good time. To me, there's something holy about getting to do that for people."

He sources most of his showpiece slabs of wood himself, preferring to work with reclaimed wood that might otherwise have gone to rot or been turned into firewood. Many of these slabs are turned into beautiful and fascinating slabtop tables, both dining room and end table-sized. When not working at "that pesky dream job," Offerman plans to branch out into acoustical guitars and other musical instruments.

Image courtesy Flickr/GmanViz