Meet Raj… and his pencils
If there is one thing cabinetmakers are good at it is obsessing. About the little things. The angle on a chisel, the straightness of a straight edge. But it’s not just the tools we use to make, what about those we use for designing and drawing. Yes, I am talking pencils.
Everyone has a favourite – for me, it’s a Faber Castell Clutch Pencil or for more relaxed sketching, my beloved Mont Blanc Leonardo Sketch Pen (which is actually a pencil but they call it a pen!) I love it – not just the way it feels in my hand but the way it sits proudly on my desk on it’s handmade Ebony holder, almost in awe of itself.
And then there is Raj, currently on the Designer/Maker course here at Rowden, Raj loves his pencils. And I mean really loves his pencils.
You see, Raj’s father is a draughtsman and so his experience and love of the humble pencil runs to a whole other level. As a youngster, he would spend time getting in the way of his Dad at the drawing board, messing about and playing with his draughting tools, and generally being a curious kid. Unsurprisingly, he also used to draw a lot as a youngster.
But it was as an adult that Raj’s pencil obsession began to take hold. It happened almost subconsciously, in his previous life as a builder and plumber, where it is always useful to have a pencil at hand. And therein lay the problem. “I’m not one of those genetically gifted freaks who can put a pencil behind their ear and rely on it staying there all day. In fact, I can’t even put one in my pocket and know it will be there five minutes later!” he recalls.
And so it began. Snapping up pencils at every available opportunity, stashing them in pockets, in the van, in his toolbox. And storing them in a large pot. That pot made it’s way to Rowden and now sits on the end of Raj’s bench, alongside his father’s old drawing board. And now that he is here, finally with some time on his hands, he has begun to draw again. And he’s loving it.
You can follow Raj’s progress via Instagram here.
Until next time…
Lakshmi
