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Raun Meyn, owner of FoundRe frame shop on West Division Street. (Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune / July 18, 2011) |
There's an old-timey feel, a genuineness, to FoundRe, a small woodworking business.
Handmade wood frames and architectural and decorative pieces fill the small gallery/showroom in Chicago, an uncontrived and utilitarian space that could belong to some 1960s or '70s-era craftsman.
But FoundRe (foundrefurnishings.com) is new — it opened in May — and the owner, Raun Meyn, is just 30.
Meyn is just one example of young people around the country who have turned away from a white-collar career choice and has returned to what can loosely be called "the skilled trades." For multiple reasons — a need to create, interest in collaborating with like-minded people, an aversion to the rat race, an opportunity to make a good living — the less-taken career path has a growing appeal.
"As you go through college, you find (working in an office) is not avoidable," says Meyn, who studied graphic design at Pittsburg State University in Kansas. "You'll still end up in a cubicle doing graphic design."
FoundRe was an attractive alternative.
"I enjoy working with my hands and making physical things way more than I enjoy looking at a computer," Meyn said.
Meyn isn't alone. There's a group of seven young men who started an art and design collective and go by the name The Post Family.
And The Butcher & Larder, a Milwaukee Avenue butcher shop that opened in January, employs a number of under-30 workers.
"I've worked in offices and sat in front of computers, and I've stood on my feet in restaurants for 14 hours," says Danielle Kaplan, 22, who specializes in pates and charcuterie at The Butcher & Larder. "This is much better. It helps to enjoy what you're doing."
That need to escape the confines of the cubicle is echoed by the guys in The Post Family. The group has been together since 2007, producing art using old design techniques such as letterpress and screen printing, as well as working in the fields of photography, web design and illustrating.
"Between all of us, we can achieve any task," says 25-year-old Chad Kouri, one of the members.
Kouri says he was drawn to this career path for several reasons, not the least being the 12 to 14 hours a day he was spending at a computer — his skills include collage-based illustration and fine art work — creating things that could disappear with the click of a button.
"I think (it was) the combination of the digital age and everything seeming too ephemeral," he says. "I've had to get tangible again. Newspapers are smaller, there are fewer books. I want an opportunity to have a beautiful piece in your hand."
Post Family members have similar backgrounds, "but different styles and passions and skills" that they share, Kouri says. "If I know screen printing, then everybody knows screen printing."
(The Post Family's current show is "Collections," an exhibit of "discarded beauty, overlooked treasures and unexplainable collections." It runs through Aug. 27 at the Chicago Urban Arts Society, 2229 S. Halsted St., Chicago. Details at thepostfamily.com.)
In Brooklyn, N.Y., Jesse Levison started Gold Teeth Brooklyn (goldteethbrooklyn.com), a boutique stationery company. Alex Trendelman, Levison's boyfriend, skipped college and took up welding at trade school; his company, SquareBuilt (squarebuilt.com), produces custom-made bicycles. In San Francisco, Jeff Canham left his art director job at a magazine, apprenticed at a sign-painting shop for five years, then struck out on his own (jeffcanham.com).
"The people I share my studio space with have all had similar career paths," Canham says. "Not necessarily corporate jobs, but other paths they've abandoned. They're furniture builders and surfboard makers."
Levison, 28, says there's a definite movement afoot: "Everyone is sort of taking it upon themselves to do their thing."
Handmade wood frames and architectural and decorative pieces fill the small gallery/showroom in Chicago, an uncontrived and utilitarian space that could belong to some 1960s or '70s-era craftsman.
But FoundRe (foundrefurnishings.com) is new — it opened in May — and the owner, Raun Meyn, is just 30.
Meyn is just one example of young people around the country who have turned away from a white-collar career choice and has returned to what can loosely be called "the skilled trades." For multiple reasons — a need to create, interest in collaborating with like-minded people, an aversion to the rat race, an opportunity to make a good living — the less-taken career path has a growing appeal.
"As you go through college, you find (working in an office) is not avoidable," says Meyn, who studied graphic design at Pittsburg State University in Kansas. "You'll still end up in a cubicle doing graphic design."
FoundRe was an attractive alternative.
"I enjoy working with my hands and making physical things way more than I enjoy looking at a computer," Meyn said.
Meyn isn't alone. There's a group of seven young men who started an art and design collective and go by the name The Post Family.
And The Butcher & Larder, a Milwaukee Avenue butcher shop that opened in January, employs a number of under-30 workers.
"I've worked in offices and sat in front of computers, and I've stood on my feet in restaurants for 14 hours," says Danielle Kaplan, 22, who specializes in pates and charcuterie at The Butcher & Larder. "This is much better. It helps to enjoy what you're doing."
That need to escape the confines of the cubicle is echoed by the guys in The Post Family. The group has been together since 2007, producing art using old design techniques such as letterpress and screen printing, as well as working in the fields of photography, web design and illustrating.
"Between all of us, we can achieve any task," says 25-year-old Chad Kouri, one of the members.
Kouri says he was drawn to this career path for several reasons, not the least being the 12 to 14 hours a day he was spending at a computer — his skills include collage-based illustration and fine art work — creating things that could disappear with the click of a button.
"I think (it was) the combination of the digital age and everything seeming too ephemeral," he says. "I've had to get tangible again. Newspapers are smaller, there are fewer books. I want an opportunity to have a beautiful piece in your hand."
Post Family members have similar backgrounds, "but different styles and passions and skills" that they share, Kouri says. "If I know screen printing, then everybody knows screen printing."
(The Post Family's current show is "Collections," an exhibit of "discarded beauty, overlooked treasures and unexplainable collections." It runs through Aug. 27 at the Chicago Urban Arts Society, 2229 S. Halsted St., Chicago. Details at thepostfamily.com.)
In Brooklyn, N.Y., Jesse Levison started Gold Teeth Brooklyn (goldteethbrooklyn.com), a boutique stationery company. Alex Trendelman, Levison's boyfriend, skipped college and took up welding at trade school; his company, SquareBuilt (squarebuilt.com), produces custom-made bicycles. In San Francisco, Jeff Canham left his art director job at a magazine, apprenticed at a sign-painting shop for five years, then struck out on his own (jeffcanham.com).
"The people I share my studio space with have all had similar career paths," Canham says. "Not necessarily corporate jobs, but other paths they've abandoned. They're furniture builders and surfboard makers."
Levison, 28, says there's a definite movement afoot: "Everyone is sort of taking it upon themselves to do their thing."
