Where to begin…

I am happily married to my incredible and talented wife Ellen, for 12 years. We have two beautiful children Max & Samantha and two little dogs Ozzy & Oscar.  We split our time between an apartment in Brooklyn, NY and a home in the country. Both Ellen and I work in television and are tied to working in the city, but every weekend we head north to decompress. Ellen has her cooking, garden and bees, I have my woodworking and home projects and the kids have freedom to run around and enjoy nature. Life is good.

I am a lighting designer for television and live events. I own a design and production company and for as long as I can remember that has been my main focus (besides my family).  Since I was in high school I worked in theatre as a technician. I built scenery, hung lights and even dabbled in audio. Very early on I chose to concentrate on lighting, I used to tell people it was because my carpentry skills weren’t sharp enough!  Theatre is an all encompassing career, I would often work from 8am to midnight. That does not leave much time for a life, never mind a hobby. But it does build a strong work ethic. Well as much as I loved theatre, at 30 I was burnt out. That’s when I got married and made the transition into television. Two awesome things that changed my life for the better.

As I approached 40, I was certainly looking for other things to feed my brain.  We had recently bought our rustic house in the country, and as the story goes, I needed to try out all those skills I saw on This Old House.  I bought some ancient tools from the previous owner and I now owned a basement that I could work in.  I did all sorts of construction projects. As much work as it was, I loved it. I had the bug.  Over the past 3 to 4 years I’ve built a shop in the basement, made major investments in tools, taken a variety of woodworking classes and read all I could related to wood.  I’ve become an amateur woodworker.

So that’s probably more about me than you wanted to know, but I believe perspective is everything and I want you to know where I’m coming from.  Chances are if you are reading this we share a passion for not only a hobby, but an age old craft and an art for creating beautiful, functional creations from nature.  Oh, and we get to have fun and play with cool tools!!!

Enjoy, and be an active participant!

-Christopher Landy,  The Lighthearted Woodworker