The Best Made Customer: Molly Woodland, Minneapolis, MN
Best Made has the best customers on the planet and to tell their stories we publish their answers to “The Ten Best Made Questions”. Above: siblings Molly Woodland and John Sullivan at their family’s log cabin “up North” with John’s Grayscale axe (a gift from Molly). Built by a Finnlander in 1928, the cabin boasts extraordinary craftsmanship, tall pines, a spring fed lake and lots of room to roam. Summers of their youth were spent exploring the woods, fishing, making bon fires, playing card games and completing the “world’s hardest puzzle” (a huge Jackson Pollack).
- what’s the weather like where you are?
Thanks for asking! Do you know how much Minnesotan’s love to talk about the weather? It’s a sweltering 95 degrees—just uncomfortable enough to be the topic du jour.
- what’s your most valuable piece of advice today?
Take the high road.
- what’s your sign?
I hope I know it when I see it.
- what is the best thing your father ever taught you?
Use your head, Kid!
- what is the best thing your mother ever taught you?
How to make perfect pie crust and how to get 20 things done before most people wake up.
- if you could be outside right now, working, what would you be doing?
Tending my vegetables, hoping to harvest an heirloom tomato for dinner.
- what skill, trade, craft, or hobby would you like to learn most and why?
How to make bread. I love the combination of skill, patience, rote movement and comforting smell — though there’s just enough science involved to intimidate me.
- what’s your favourite answer to a question?
Another question.
- what problem would you like solved?
Why the world’s honeybees are disappearing (and how to look good in skinny
jeans).
Molly Woodland ventured from cabin life to study at Marquette University and has since been a graphic designer for 15+ years. She currently owns Apiary Design, a stationery company devoted to the beauty of the handwritten word. Today, Molly fights traffic to weekend at the cabin in an attempt to regain simplicity/perspective/sanity.
John Sullivan is an avid outdoorsman. Growing up he spent every opportunity possible outdoors—at the cabin, fishing Canadian waters and paddling the far reaches of Manitoba to Hudson Bay. John attended the University of St. Thomas and went on to work in film production in New York City. After five fast-paced years, he returned to his beloved state to work, fish, and once again, wield an axe.
The Best Made Customer: Julia Leach, New York, NY
Best Made has the best customers on the planet and to tell their stories we publish their answers to “The Ten Best Made Questions”. Above: Beside her driveway in Sullivan County New York, there’s a tree stump that the property’s original owner told her was over 200 years old when they chopped it down in 1985. Instead of removing it she uses it as a picnic table, a place to set her gardening tools on, and now a fitting display stand for her Green Bean axe.
- what’s the weather like where you are?
Sunny, nearly always.
- what’s your most valuable piece of advice today?
Give more than you take.
- what is the best thing your father ever taught you?
“It all works out.”
- what is the best thing your mother ever taught you?
To plant, nurture, and weed a garden.
- what skill, trade, craft, or hobby would you like to learn most and why?
How to cultivate an apple orchard. Beauty, nourishment, patience, fulfillment.
- if you could be outside right now, working, what would you be doing?
Ideally, working with horses in a barn, but since I don’t have a horse or barn at this point, I’d be happy to be cleaning out and furnishing the old writing room on my property.
- what problem would you like solved?
On a global level, re-think the way we treat our oceans.
- what’s your favourite answer to a question?
Onward!
Julia Leach: The daughter of a French writer and Midwestern potter (slash craftsman slash photographer), Julia grew up on 80 forested acres in Sogn Valley, Minnesota. Of primarily Danish descent, she was surrounded by Scandinavians and developed a love of design early on. She also developed a love for beautiful, simple tools as her dad taught her to hunt morels with a Schrade Old Timer, “a knife like Grandad’s.” She’s lived in New York City for twenty years, working at the intersection of style, design, art, and technology, and satisfies her love of nature by regular visits to her house in Sullivan County. Julia recently launched her own lifestyle concept, Chance, which has as its icon the classic striped t-shirt - a symbol of clean design, the pursuit of adventure, personal style, and the power of simplicity.
The Best Made Customer: Dale Shippit, Edmonton Alberta
Best Made has the best customers on the planet and to tell their stories we publish their answers to “The Ten Best Made Questions”. Pictured above: Dale Shippit, his woodpile, his Handsome Dan felling axe, and a few wood nymphs! (his daughters Norah and Lydia, and his wife Kathleen).
1) what’s the weather like where you are?
A week and a half ago it was snowing and yesterday I got a sun burn after going for an afternoon bicycle ride.
2) what’s your most valuable piece of advice today?
Drop ‘n chop!
3) what’s your sign?
Virgo, but what does that mean anyway.
4) if you could be outside right now, working, what would you be doing?
Well it’s 11 o’clock so I would want to be stoking the fire.
5) what is the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?
Haggis from a can.
6) what is the best thing your father ever taught you?
“This too shall pass” is one that I’m always trying to learn. The other thing that I’m always learning from my dad is to never stop dreaming, have visions and think big.
7) what is the best thing your mother ever taught you?
Always treat your wife great. It’s good to have a tender heart.
8) what skill, trade, craft, or hobby would you like to learn most and why?
Well I have two: one is wood working, making custom furniture and bike fenders; the second is pottery. I love to see things take form in front of you for a useful piece like a cup or a table.
9) what problem would you like solved?
My basement plumbing.
10) what’s your favourite answer to a question?
Only on Tuesday’s.
Dale Shippit was born in Whitehorse, Yukon in the fall of 1984 which means he was conceived in the dead of the winter when all there is to do is stoke the fire and… The cold has always been apart of his winters having moved to Edmonton, Alberta at the age of one and a half. Having had fire places and wood stoves has always been a comfort to Dale. Not only do they provide heat but a reminder that hard work is well enjoyed and apart of our everyday. His axe ” Handsome Dan” hangs on his bedroom wall is a constant reminder to protect and gather for his family.
The Best Made Customer: Johan Walters, Johannesburg South Africa
Best Made has the best customers on the planet and to tell their stories we publish their answers to “The Ten Best Made Questions”. While war is being waged on the pitches of Durban, Polokwane, Cape Town, and Joburg, may we introduce Johan Walters, seen here patrolling the veld just outside Dullstroom (a fly fisherman’s haven in the Mpumalanga province) with his trusted Joe Mitchell axe in hand.
- what’s the weather like where you are?
Brilliant, Joburg is renowned for its clear skies all year round. In winter it’s dry and dusty, but summer is amazing. The big African rain storms come in the late afternoons and there is often a spectacular display of thunder and lightning.
- what’s your most valuable piece of advice today?
Stay out of debt.
- what’s your sign?
Thumbs up… everything is going to be OK.
- what is the best thing your father ever taught you?
How to “braai”. It is similar to barbecue but it’s a much bigger deal here in SA. If you can’t braai, your chances of finding a wife are pretty slim.
- what is the best thing your mother ever taught you?
An appreciation for any form of competence.
- what skill, trade, craft, or hobby would you like to learn most and why?
Glass blowing. I think glass is an amazing material, completely natural, bio-degradable and it has a sense of honesty and timelessness about it. I would love to shape red hot molten glass and see it transform into something beautiful, perhaps even design my own range of glassware.
- if you could be outside right now, working, what would you be doing?
Casting a dry fly to a rising trout!
- what problem would you like solved?
Getting my wife and I to live closer to the mountains of Cape Town.
- what’s your favourite answer to a question?
“Are you crazy?”
Johan Walters: I was born in the winter of 1980, Johannesburg, South Africa. My dad was a Springbok rugby player and my mom a beauty queen at Stellenbosch University. We lived opposite the Joburg Zoo and woke up in the mornings to the sound of cars, trucks and roaring lions. At school I played every sport that was offered, as well as classical guitar. When I turned 18 I decided to venture beyond our borders and travelled through America and Europe where I fly-fished, camped in the wilderness and drove ice cream trucks to pay my way. Returning home I studied Industrial Design and eventually started my own design company. Joe Mitchell was a gift from my incredible wife who believes that every man should be smart, strong and courageous. With my axe in hand, I can’t help but feel like I am that man!
The Best Made Customer: Alex Swann, Toronto Canada
Best Made has the best customers on the planet and to tell their stories we will be publishing their answers to “The Ten Best Made Questions”. We kick it off with handsome Alex Swann, seen above taking Handsome Dan to his five o’clock shadow.
1) what’s the weather like where you are?
Perfect. Hot, not too humid, and economic downturns are smog-free.
2) what’s your most valuable piece of advice today?
Invoice clients regularly.
3) what’s your sign?
Yield.
4) if you could be outside right now, working, what would you be doing?
Even more typing on the laptop.
5) what is the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?
Head cheese…last night…I was told after the fact. Not sure I would have eaten it otherwise. But it was delicious (albeit fatty) and served with a nice Barolo. Otherwise I do try to order the oddest, or most seasonal or most local thing on menu, particularly when travelling.
6) what is the best thing your father ever taught you?
Sense of humour and the word “schadenfreude”
7) what is the best thing your mother ever taught you?
Discerning taste and how to make Yorkshire puddings.
8) what skill, trade, craft, or hobby would you like to learn most and why?
Music - guitar, maybe the drums. I’d like to rock out some day - or play a great country song.
9) what problem would you like solved?
Climate change.
10) what’s your favourite answer to a question?
‘Maybe’ Particularly helpful when someone asks if I’ve “finished that project yet?”
ALEX SWANN was born in Montreal some time before the 1976 Olympics, but after the World’s Fair of 1967. At the age of 8 he was placed on a bus near a mall and sent to summer camp. It was there he learned from the councilors to wield an axe and from the campers a full inventory of cuss words. After his summer sojourns at camp came to an end, and adulthood began, his life focused more on matters urban. He studied history at university, relearned French – the language of the coureurs de bois – and is now a consultant in communications and public opinion research. Today he lives in Toronto, Canada, where he’s a principal at the Gandalf Group. On weekends he can be found chopping far more Maple than is ever needed for the (diminishing) winters of southern Ontario at the family acreage in the hamlet of Melville.
