Looking to get a glimpse of a CFC student’s perspective? This week, we sat down with Case Garver who recently completed the 12-week Furniture Intensive. He expanded upon why he chose CFC, which classroom moments fostered growth, and what’s in his future plans.
What brought you to CFC?
CG: Before coming to CFC, I’d run a small upholstery shop for 8 years. This past year, I sold my half of the business with the goal of setting up my own new shop that builds on my upholstery skillset and expands into furniture design and new builds. In order to do that at a high level, I knew I needed a solid foundation in wood furniture making.
I began asking the woodworkers in my life where they recommended and a respected colleague suggested I check out CFC. I immediately connected with the 12-week Intensive program: I really liked that it wasn’t just a nuts-and-bolts approach to furniture making, each of the 3 modules explores how to design—from 3D sculpture modeling, to scale and full size drawing, to crafting in-depth joinery plans. The design aspect is what pushed me to apply, as I wanted to develop my own design vocabulary that felt authentic to me. CFC helped me discover how to do that.
How did you see yourself grow during the 12-week Furniture Intensive?
CG: Competence and confidence. I had a lot of blind spots before coming to CFC, but the Furniture Intensive helped me work through a lot of those, so I can be a more competent furniture maker in only 3 months.
I’m more confident from experiencing so many different approaches, set ups, hand tool and machine operations, as well as hearing thoughtful tips and tricks from people who’ve been doing this work for years and years. The experience and insights shared are absolutely invaluable. There were so many times I finally got a straight answer from a trusted instructor about a topic that I’d been hunting around for on YouTube and woodworking forums.
Any favorite moments or tips of wisdom from your session?
CG: My favorite moments were the “breakthrough” moments. We would get in-depth demonstrations on a new joinery method, for instance. It would all be a bit overwhelming and I’d wonder if I remembered everything correctly or if I’d missed something crucial. Inevitably, the time would come to try it myself. Once I cleared the mental barrier and just got down to it, I found the new skills to be challenging but doable. Once I completed the steps, I almost always thought “I did it! And on review, that’s not actually as big of a deal as I’d thought. Now I have a whole new operation under my belt for the rest of my life.”
What’s next for you?
CG: CFC put the tools in my hands for the future. My goal is to continue doing upholstery work while developing some furniture designs of my own, so I can offer a small collection soon! I can’t wait to start putting the new skills I’ve learned into practice and connect the woodworking and fabric worlds together, in a meaningful way.
