Hi Nashville and the world!
Today we’re introducing you to Caleb Venuto of
Venuto Woodwork.
Caleb and his wife live in live in beautiful East Tennessee
among the endless rolling hills and green pastures. He’s a carpenter, originally from Big Bear
Lake, California. Caleb and his wife
have endless hours of fun and antics with their three cats/furbabies.
Caleb’s love of creating custom high quality wood pieces
originates from a little wood rocking chair that was handed down to him as a
child. Together the family fixed slats on that little rocking chair and
repainted it several times over the years so that each grandchild and great
grandchild could experience rocking in that little wooden chair, making it a
family heirloom.
He later explored woodworking at Big Bear High School and
developed a greater love for creating beautiful pieces out of wood. For his high school final he made a large 5
shelf cabinet with a glass door for his mother that she still uses and loves. At the same time during high school, he
started a job at a custom door company.
Working with wood runs in the family and Caleb’s grandfather is also a
big influence as he is a very talented woodworker and used to have a great
workshop. Caleb eventually perfected his skills in Torrance California, creating
custom cabinets and wood products for high-end customers and he now has his own
custom carpentry business in Tennessee.
In October 2014 Caleb opened an
Etsy shop to display his
exotic wood tie creations. He was
inspired to start making wood ties after purchasing a simple wood tie several years
ago; it was not made to last and lacked quality workmanship, but it was an idea
that intrigued him. He worked on
creating a unique exotic wood tie collection that was both beautiful and
extremely high quality. His success in making the wood ties lead to him
starting to make exotic wood jewelry, children's ties and tie bars. He eventually started customizing and
engraving initials and custom symbols on his tie, tie bar, and necklace
collection. He also makes custom wood
signs and decor.
“I love to
see people's expressions when they see a completed project.”
Caleb enjoys creating and designing items with the help of
his mother and wife. Their input and
help is crucial in making Venuto Woodwork into a successful business. His mother (who still lives in Bear Lake, CA)
has a marketing/graphic artist background and is his partner in social media
and shop updates along with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) updates. They enjoy working together and discuss
weekly, sometimes daily, how to improve products, customer satisfaction,
quality, and outreach.
Originally Caleb made all of his wood ties by hand, but that
was not suitable for smaller projects like necklaces and bracelets so, in due course, he purchased a CNC machine to cut out his designs. He uses specialized programs to design his
art and his mom designs vector art in Adobe Illustrator. Caleb’s
goal is to eventually get a laser cutter to expand the jewelry line with more
intricate pieces. He also hopes to
eventually work with acrylics and metal.
Caleb loves working with exotic woods, he says “Zebra wood
is my favorite but my Heartwoods are fun to work with especially because purple
is my favorite color. I put a lot of
time and patience into each product I create, by hand, for people to enjoy hopefully
for many years to come.”
Inspiration comes from shapes and animals and his wife and
mother love continually coming up with new ideas. Venuto Woodwork also hosted a design contest
to get ideas from the community and some of those designs ended up in the Etsy
shop. He finds that his Instagram users
are also very supportive.
If you’re looking to meet Caleb in person, he is a regular vendor
at Border Bash and a new event at Wolfhills Brewing Company. He offers all his jewelry, ties and fun signs
at these local events.
In looking to the future, he hopes to eventually expand his woodworking business into a full-time venture. He
enjoys the work and meeting new customers he encounters along the way.
Caleb’s favorite quote is from Marc Jacobs, "I always
find beauty in things that are odd and imperfect - they are much more
interesting."
Thank you for taking the time to get to know Caleb and
Venuto Woodwork and hopefully you will enjoy owning one of his handcrafted
custom products soon.
If you’d like to learn more, Venuto Woodwork can be found
online here:
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