Cool New Brooklyn Art (isan) Alert: Pete Raho with Gowanus Furniture

photo by Pete Raho

Two years ago Pete Raho did what so many struggling Brooklyn artists and craftsmen have done: he told his job to go f*ck itself. After working at Christies Auction House for nearly 8 years and getting his MBA from Stern, he decided to chuck it all and pursue his passion for working with wood (please, everyone, stay mature). All by his lonesome, he started his own enterprise aptly named Gowanus Furniture (both his apartment and shared workshop are in Gowanus).

After a series of fits and starts and a crapload of innovative ideas, Raho is hitting his stride crafting unique and useful pieces. What started with a series of cleverly-designed bike racks and shelving units turned into Raho's passion to put functional, well-crafted art in small urban spaces. Then it dawned on him: what better place to start than in the kitchen? Hence his new cutting board empire. After a mention in Popular Mechanics and a feature in Tasting Table as well as our very own Amanda's blog Yeah, You're Welcome, Raho's cranking out cutting boards as fast as he can make them. 

So I had a little chat with him to see what makes this cutting board guru tick. 

J Charles: How does someone who surrounds himself in an ultra urban environment (Gowanus/Park Slope) find himself working with wood?

Pete Raho: I sometimes wonder that same thing. Two years ago I'd have never guessed I'd be doing this. There are a lot of contradictions floating around. Gowanus is a neighborhood of contrasts - artists next to industry. The canal showing the tension between the industrial and organic as it slowly comes back to life. As for me, I sort of straddle those two extremes. I worked in the art world for years at an auction house, then business school, now this. Undergrad I studied biology and art history. So clearly my focus is a bit all over the place. More flashlight than laser. But woodworking is a medium that let's me combine the analytical and creative. That's what I love really about it.

JC: What gives you the right to start your own furniture company? And more importantly, what's the process been like for you starting from scratch?

PR: Ha. Nothing at all. Thankfully there aren't any licensing or certification type things to worry about. I hope. At least not to my knowledge. I should probably look into that. 

It's been an great experience, of course not without incredible amounts of frustration and periods of abject terror. Everyone doing something like this is optimistic, believing it'll work, but you need to be constantly reevaluating as to whether it's time to throw it in. It's not a game. There's no script. 

I designed the business to be able to have a range of products to crank out that would allow me to pay the bills, with time to work on more ambitious projects, and to scale relatively easily. I'm pretty decent at a really broad range of stuff (but not particularly good at any one thing), so being able to do a bit of everything from design to manufacturing to IT to sales to marketing is something I really like.

JC: I'm intrigued/in love with the Morse code on cutting boards. What made you put the two together?

PR: Good. To. Hear. Yeah, I really love those too. Well, in my kitchen, I have a small IKEA stainless steel thing on wheels that came with an awful excuse for a cutting board. I wanted to replace it with something personalized I made. I originally thought about monogramming it using something like a UPC code but would be way too large - for just my initials I'd need a cutting board nearly 3' wide. I also thought about converting ASCII to binary and other such nerdery, but still, didn't make any sense for a cutting board. Total nonsense. And only really understood by machines anyway.

Then it just hit me to use Morse code as a way to encode the letters into the grid of the board, and it makes perfect sense. Morse code is designed to be understood by humans, not machines. And it doesn't depend on the medium - it can use a telegraph, smoke signals, or a cutting board - it still works. It will never be obsolete, and has been doing it's been around for nearly 170yrs. It also connected people and started conversations. Just like dinner should. I also like the story of Samuel Morse and how Morse code came to be. He was a renowned portrait painter, but tragically his wife fell ill while he was away, and he learned of her death after the fact.  After that he focused on creating a form of rapid communication. He helped found the National Academy while developing one of the greatest practical inventions of the 19th century. Such a great blend of Art and Science.

photo by Pete Raho

JC: Ok so pretend you're you and I'm me, just pretend: Why do I need/want a $390 cutting board? Sell me. 

PR: I'm sure you want it. But I won't try to convince you that you need it. 

But you should want it because it's a damn fine cutting board you'll have for decades. It's about 15lbs, has cool features like a lip on the front and wall-mount-ability, and the one you receive will be a unique piece. End grain boards like this one is best for your knives, too. It also won't show knife marks as readily. You'll also have the pleasure of using it for years to come - guaranteed for as long as you have it. 

I've made dozens of these and they're still fun to make. Lots of ways to vary the basic layout, and each board arranged so the grain looks great and tells a story. My goal is to elevate the utilitarian cutting board into kitchen furniture.

You're using it to feed yourself and your family. It should be something worthy of the task that has meaning.

Also you get free shipping to wherever with a supply of wax and oil included. And you get a free "resurfacing" to cash in whenever you please, so you don't have to worry about it being "too nice" to cut on. Beat it up and we'll make it like-new again somewhere down the road. C'mon. No one else includes that. You know you want one.

photo by Pete Raho

JC: What other goodies do you have under that wooden sleeve of yours? 

PR: Lots! I know right now it's a bit more "Gowanus Cutting Board" than Gowanus Furniture, BUT lots of good stuff on the way. Look for wall mounted bike racks for sale soon - I'll have the prototype at the Flea this Saturday. Made from a slab of cherry, with a live edge. I'm really excited about the bike racks. More lighting pieces as well (that you can hang from your ceiling but that plug into a wall outlet), and wall mounted wine racks. Some small occasional tables too made of walnut with a live edge on two sides. 

All of it solving problems and working well in small apartments while celebrating the wood - I think sometimes we forget what real, well-finished wood looks like and that's kind of sad.

JC: Where can we find you and your wares these days? 

By Brooklyn over on Smith, as well as the Bilotta Kitchens showroom in Manhattan. I'll be at the Flea this Saturday, and the Brooklyn Craft Central Holiday Market at Littlefield next Sunday. That's a cool event with 60 different vendors each day. More locations forthcoming once the holiday rush passes. You can also win a Lime Board in the Krrb 12 Days of Gifting.

JC: If Gowanus and Park Slope got into a street fight, who would win?

Gowanus. No doubt. Farther down on 2nd ave near Hamilton ave, got a lot of guys with factories and big trucks. I hope it doesn't come to that though because I'm in the Slope all the time (I'm on the Slope side, near Littleneck), and would hate for there to be any hostility.

photo by Pete Raho