Ingrained: The Making of a Craftsman is a well written personal memoir by Callum Robinson of his experiences as an artisan craftsman, his upbringing, and his journey as a woodworker. Released 3rd Dec 2024 by HarperCollins on their Ecco imprint, it's 320 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
This is a beautifully written, honest (often brutally so) memoir detailing the difficult, frustrating, and most often precarious existence of artists given the economic landscape of the current day. It's a difficult balancing act to acquire tools and materials, run a business, and still manage to be a conduit for artistic expression on a meaningful level, to stay true to artistic vision.
The author is gifted with his prose, which flows evenly and readably. The writing is lush and painterly, surprisingly evocative and moving in places. (Surprisingly because at the end of the day, the guy is a woodworker of bespoke high end items, but still a craftsman and not chiefly a writer). The book contains some rugged language, but the f*cks are not used egregiously, and work in context.
Four stars. This would be an excellent choice for library acquisition, home reader use, or for gifting to a woodcrafter who enjoys memoirs.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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