I’m Mashud Darlington and I live in the beautiful limestone White Peak District in East Cheshire with my wife Rohana. I’ve had a lifelong love for wood as material with its subtle textures and aromatic scents.
I was fortunate in my introduction to woodworking. I recall as a school boy over fifty years ago approaching the craft teacher Mr Sparrow with a request, ‘please sir, I want to make a coffee table.’ He gestured to a large stack of fragrant, well-seasoned hardwood in the classroom rack and said: ‘go over there, lad, and sort yourself out a nice walnut plank.’ I’ve still got the table I made from it. The same request from a twelve year old today would probably produce six tiles, a piece of plywood and a set of pre-turned legs, presuming woodwork is even on the syllabus. Standards were high in those days and careful French polishing was the only finish considered suitable for our work.
As the parent of a growing family of four ambitious children my youthful interest in carpentry was quickly pushed aside by their needs. I spent my working life in the printing industry and then in Airfield Safety at Manchester Airport.
At the age of fifty eight I was unexpectedly offered early retirement and took evening courses in woodwork and joinery at local colleges. My interest in Japanese carpentry was sparked by Toshio Odate’s seminal work Japanese Woodworking Tools: their tradition, spirit and use.
The photograph of myself shows a Japanese Ryoba-Noko (double edged saw) being used in a project to make a storage cabinet to hold Rohana’s art materials and paintings. Like most Western cabinet makers I have come to appreciate the finer cuts that can be made with Japanese tools; however, the rigours of a Japanese apprenticeship described in my piece below are no longer available or attractive to me. I prefer to develop an eclectic approach to learning; the possibilities of experimentation with new woods and techniques are almost infinite.
For explanation of the term Shokunin this might be helpful:
“The Japanese word shokunin is defined by both Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries as ‘craftsman’ or ‘artisan,’ but such a literal description does not fully express the deeper meaning. The Japanese apprentice is taught that shokunin means not only having technical skills, but also implies an attitude and social consciousness. … The shokunin has a social obligation to work his/her best for the general welfare of the people. This obligation is both spiritual and material, in that no matter what it is, the shokunin’s responsibility is to fulfill the requirement.” – Tasio Odate
Some interesting links:
