Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Starr.
Hi Courtney, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Rubber band gun
One of my earliest memories is making a rubber band gun with my dad and grandpa in a dusty Florida garage. I can still remember seeing the shavings fly as I drilled the hole for the trigger. It’s where creativity started for me — the ability to imagine the future and will it into existence. The main tool you need to get started woodworking is your imagination.
Starr Boards
Later on in another garage (this time in Maryland) I spent my teenage years making custom skateboards for friends alongside my dad. Starr Boards gave me the opportunity to learn about graphic design, silkscreening, building websites, and how annoying it was to give half my profits to retailers when I sold through local surf shops at the beach. Needless to say, I enjoyed working directly with my clients 🙂
Living in NYC
After college, my wife and I left the northern Virginia area and moved to Brooklyn to explore a new city and push ourselves in our careers. While I loved every day of my job as a Designer there, I came to realize I was missing something — woodworking. After relocating to Durham in 2017, I discovered a passion for using hand tools to construct unique pieces of furniture.
Storage shed + dining table
When we first moved to Durham I was lucky enough to move in next to a woodworker who invited me to share his shop space in a nearby storage facility. My first project I built there was a dining table that was much bigger than our NY apartment would ever allow. I was so happy to find myself in a shop again, but the main tool that shop lacked was a toilet…
Chair classes
One of the most formative parts of my woodworking journey has been learning from master chair makers in North Carolina and Tennessee. I spent a week with Elia Bizzarri in 2019 learning to make a Loop Back Chair in his Hillsborough shop. I was introduced to so many new hand tools and “no-think” methods perfected by highly efficient 19th century craftsman. Later in 2021 I took a class lead by Eric Cannizzaro in Greg Pennington’s shop in Tennessee. It’s hard to explain why these classes are so important. You absorb so much more than just skills. You form new relationships and soak in good energy that you can take with you and pour into new projects (and other people).
Digital + phsyical
In my early 30’s I started to recognize a symbiotic relationship between my day job as a digital product designer and my hobby as a woodworker. Woodworking taught me ways of problem solving that were useful to designing and building apps and websites, and my work in the tech space taught me software and communication skills that were useful to sharing my woodworking process with others. I fell in love with making woodworking videos, and now enjoy the storytelling and editing process just as much as making the furniture itself.
Starting my business
For the past decade I’ve been focused on paying down debt and saving money in order to someday take the leap into full-time woodworking. Well that day came earlier than expected on February 16th, 2024 when I got laid off from my job. I received a severance that felt like wind in my sails, so I decided to give it a go. I announced my business to the world on February 24th, 2024 with a video titled Goodbye Tech. Hello Woodworking! Give it a watch and subscribe to follow my future woodworking journey!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
A part of why I love woodworking so much is that it’s all about problem solving. So even the struggles feel like opportunities in disguise. Did a joint fail? Good, make it stronger next time. Didn’t charge enough for that project? Good, get better at estimating time and materials. Having a hard time working efficiently? Good, rearrange your shop to optimize your workflow. Each struggle is an opportunity to learn.
As you know, we’re big fans of Starr Woodworks. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I build custom furniture to exacting standards to create beautiful and highly functional furniture.
I film my process to create entertaining and educational woodworking videos.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Remember how I mentioned getting laid off on February 16th and launching my business on February 24th? Well on February 25th my wife and I got a call at 6:45 AM that a baby girl was available for immediate adoption and I had a new daughter in my arms two hours later. It took us four years to adopt our first child, and somehow I knew whenever I took the plunge into full-time woodworking would be the time when we got placed with our second child. Turns out it was less than 24 hours later. Continuing down the path of full-time woodworking in the face of all this change and added responsibility feels like a big risk! But then again, risk is the spice of life, so I’m enjoying this flavorful period.
Pricing:
- $2,000
- $10,000
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.starrwoodworks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/starrwoodworks/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/starrwoodworks
- Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/company/starr-woodworks
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/starrwoodworks
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@starr.woodworks
