Barn the Spoon
{{Short description|British spoon carver and author (b. 1981)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Barn the Spoon
| image = Barn the Spoon Portrait.jpg
| image_upright =
| caption = Barn the Spoon
| birth_name = Barnaby Alexander Carder
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1981}}
| birth_place = Oxford, Oxfordshire
| nationality = British
| occupation = Artist, spoon carver, author
| website = [https://barnthespoon.com/ barnthespoon.com]
}}
Barnaby Alexander Carder, known as Barn the Spoon (born 1981), is a British artisan spoon carver, teacher, author and co-founder of Spoonfest, the annual international festival of spoon carving in Edale in Derbyshire, UK.{{cite web|title=Woodsmen Barnaby Carder|url=http://www.elledecoration.co.uk/news/spoonfest/ |website=Elle|publisher=Hearst Magazines UK|access-date=21 February 2017}} He is also founder of the Green Wood Guild, a collective of green wood carvers who run carving workshops and owns a spoon shop and woodworking venue in Hackney in London's East End. Carder also teaches spoon carving, woodworking and bladesmithing (with master smith Nic Westermann).{{cite web|last1=Cooper|first1=Jonny|title=How an axe-forging workshop brought out my inner craftsman|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11665716/How-an-axe-forging-workshop-brought-out-my-inner-craftsman.html|website=The Telegraph|access-date=22 April 2017}}
Early life and education
Carder was born in Oxford{{Cite web|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=khsVnfPjwHLmlyz545pmSQ&scan=1|title=Entry Information: Births Dec 1981 Carder, Barnaby Alexander|access-date=3 April 2020|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}} in November 1981{{cite web |title=Barnaby Alexander Carder |url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/__sCQEgbfSFFcLj3K6lkZDtVzp4/appointments |website=Companies House |access-date=10 February 2020}} and grew up in Berkshire.{{cite web|last1=Ranscombe|first1=Siân|title=Barnaby Carder, the British spoon-carver|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/10892365/Barnaby-Carder-the-British-spoon-carver.html|website=The Telegraph|access-date=15 April 2017}} At the age of 12 a neighbour introduced him to woodturning by showing him how to make bowls{{cite web|title=Barn the Spoon, Spoon Carver|url=http://spitalfieldslife.com/2012/11/13/barn-the-spoon-spoon-carver/|website=Spitalfields Life|access-date=22 April 2017}} and soon he had a lathe in the garage of his parents' house.{{cite web|title=The Spoon Carving Enthusiast|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04d0nzz|website=BBC World Service|access-date=22 April 2017}} He graduated from Bristol University with a degree in biology, intending initially to become a biology teacher before becoming apprenticed to a cabinet maker.{{cite web|title=Barnaby Carder – The Spoon Whittler|url=http://www.woodworkersinstitute.com/news/2013/05/barnaby-carder-the-spoon-whittler/|website=Woodworkers Institute|publisher=GMC Publications LTD.|access-date=22 February 2017}} After apprenticing himself to green wood worker Mike Abbott in Hereford, he then spent 3 years working in forestry and living in the forests, sourcing green wood. It was while living in the woods he began to carve and then sell spoons for a living travelling between Oxford and Bristol,{{cite web|last1=Galliver|first1=John|title=The man who makes his living whittling wooden spoons|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22467510|website=BBC News|access-date=22 April 2017}} finding that the spoons sold better in cities. Carder holds an official pedlar's licence for this purpose.
Spoons and green wood carving
Carder is founder of The Green Wood Guild, London's school of traditional woodwork, based at Stepney City Farm.{{cite web|title=Wood|url=http://stepneycityfarm.org/rural-arts/wood/?doing_wp_cron=1487722612.2000598907470703125000|website=Stepney City Farm|access-date=22 February 2017}} The guild provides courses in woodworking, carving, whittling and bladesmithing and runs two regular clubs, Whittlers Anonymous and Spoonclub.
Carder uses freshly cut (green) wood and traditional techniques to carve his spoons, usually using an axe, spoon knife (a curved bladed knife for hollowing out the bowl of the spoon), and small carving knife. The wood is sourced locally from parks in and around London and is recycled from trees which have been removed for conservation reasons.{{cite web|last1=Chia|first1=Jessica|title=Barnaby Carder carves his spoons at shop-front door|url=http://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2014/09/barnaby-carder-carves-spoons-in-shop-front/|website=East London Lines|access-date=3 May 2017}} Carder states that a single spoon can take him from twenty minutes to two hours to carve. He opened his Hackney Road shop at the end of 2012 and carves in the shop window, where people often stop to watch.
Carder has a display of some of his spoons in the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts{{cite web|last1=Knox|first1=Robert|title=Time for John Singer Sargent at Duxbury museum|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/south/2017/04/07/time-for-john-singer-sargent-duxbury-museum/eFN31tkEAmrLvpFiLPWKaM/story.html|website=Boston Globe|access-date=22 April 2017}} and his spoons have also sold in the Conran shop in Tokyo.{{cite web|last1=Tassell|first1=Tony|title=FT Masterclass: spoon carving with Barnaby Carder|url=https://www.ft.com/content/ee980e4ch-5379-11e6-9664-e0bdc13c3bef|website=Financial Times|access-date=14 April 2017}} In 2016 Carder and Robin Wood joined Stevie Parle during London Craft Week to explore wood-fired cooking and how dining from wooden utensils can affect the experience of eating.{{cite web|last1=Howells|first1=Tom|title=See the wood for the trees: Robin Wood and Barn the Spoon do dinner at Craft|url=http://www.wallpaper.com/design/seeing-the-wood-for-the-trees-robin-wood-and-barn-the-spoon-set-up-shop-at-craft|website=Wallpaper|publisher=Time Inc.|access-date=22 April 2017}} Carder has been described by the press as "legendary"{{cite web|last1=Frizzell|first1=Nell|title=The best craft festivals around the country|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/apr/09/knitting-skills-knitwear-faroe-islands-festival-sweaters-knit|website=The Guardian|access-date=22 April 2017}} and it has been said that "No one in Britain knows more about crafting a spoon from green wood than Barn the Spoon".
In May 2017 following the release of his book, Carder announced the lease on his shop is to expire and he hopes to leave London to be closer to nature. He launched a '1000 spoons' project where he intends to carve 1000 spoons from a single tree, using any profits to plant and maintain his own woodland.{{cite web|last1=Cooper|first1=Jonny|title=Carving out a new life as a spoon whittler|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/mind/carving-new-life-spoon-whittler/|website=The Telegraph|access-date=16 June 2017}}
Teaching
Carder teaches spoon and bowl carving at his shop on the Hackney Road and has run courses at various other venues around the UK including Stepney City Farm, Tate Britain, the Pitt Rivers Museum{{cite web|title=Spring 2016|url=https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/F%20of%20PRM%2085%20Spring%202016%20LR%20for%20WEB%20AWARD%20FC.pdf|website=The Friends of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford Magazine|access-date=22 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170117120526/https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/F%20of%20PRM%2085%20Spring%202016%20LR%20for%20WEB%20AWARD%20FC.pdf|archive-date=17 January 2017|url-status=dead}} and Heal's.{{cite web|title=Make it|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/courses-and-workshops/make-it-knife-carving-workshop|website=Tate Britain|access-date=22 February 2017}}{{cite web|title=Barnaby Carder Spatula Carving Workshop|url=https://www.heals.com/barnaby-carder-2.html|website=Heals|access-date=22 April 2017}}
In May 2017 Carder published his first book, a spoon carving guide entitled Spon: A Guide to Spoon Carving and the New Wood Culture published by Penguin Books.{{cite web|title=Spon A Guide to Spoon Carving and the New Wood Culture|url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1112684/spon/9780753545973/|website=Penguin books|access-date=13 March 2017}} 'Spon' refers to the Anglo-Saxon English word for a wood chip which is believed to be the etymological root of spoon. In it Carder shows techniques and the appropriate use of tools used in creating different types of spoon.{{cite book|last1=The Spoon|first1=Barn|title=Spon: A Guide to Spoon Carving and the New Wood Culture|date=2017|publisher=Penguin (Virgin Books)|isbn=978-0753545973}}
Carder explains the need to think in three dimensions, as with other forms of sculpture, and has said "Perfection is always just a spoon away."{{cite web|last1=Henley|first1=Jon|title=Carve your own spoon|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/feb/06/carve-your-own-spoon|website=The Guardian|access-date=22 April 2017}}
Spoonfest
Carder is co-founder of Spoonfest with Robin Wood MBE (trustee and ex-chairman of the Heritage Crafts Association).{{cite web|last1=Wallis Simons|first1=Jake|title=The joys of whittling|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/9796481/The-joys-of-whittling.html|website=The Telegraph|access-date=14 April 2017}}{{cite web|title=Spoonfest|url=https://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/spoonfest|website=Companies in the UK|access-date=22 February 2017}} Spoonfest is an annual international festival of spoon carving that has been held in Edale, Derbyshire{{cite web|last1=Fox|first1=Killian|title=What we love about food in 2017|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/ng-interactive/2017/feb/19/the-5th-annual-ofm-50-what-we-love-about-food-in-2017|website=The Observer|publisher=Guardian News and Media|access-date=14 April 2017}}{{cite web|last1=Ventoso|first1=Luis|title=Relájate: talla cucharas de madera|url=http://www.abc.es/estilo/abci-relajate-talla-cucharas-madera-201704210958_noticia.html|website=ABC|access-date=22 April 2017}} since 2012, with 200 people attending in the first year.{{cite news |last1=Simons |first1=Jake Wallis |title=The joys of whittling |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/9796481/The-joys-of-whittling.html |access-date=21 February 2020 |date=11 January 2013}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
{{Commons}}
- [https://vimeo.com/36075025 Barn the Spoon on Vimeo]
- [http://benjaminbrookes.com/Barn-the-Spoon Dance of the Axe and Knife]
- [https://vimeo.com/76502635 Spoonfest on Vimeo]
{{Authority control}}
Category:Alumni of the University of Bristol