Taunton Workshops Faculty

Marc Adams has been woodworking professionally for nearly 30 years. The Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Franklin, Indiana, is one of the world’s largest woodworking schools. His work has appeared in numerous books and magazines, and his shop was featured in The Workshop by Taunton Press. Marc has worked with the EPA in Washington on current woodworking issues, and has been a panel commentator at the prestigious International Woodworking Fair. Marc won the Indiana Artist/Craftsman of the Year award three times and periodically appears on TV and radio talk shows on woodworking topics.

Susan Beal is the author of four best-selling craft books: Modern Log Cabin Quilting (Potter Craft, 2011), World of Geekcraft (Chronicle, 2011), Button It Up (Taunton, 2009), and Bead Simple (Taunton, 2008). Susan also co-wrote Super Crafty (Sasquatch, 2005) with Cathy Pitters, Torie Nguyen, and Rachel O’Rourke, and has contributed to many other books (including Applique Your Way, The Pillow Book, Handmade Nation, Offbeat Bride, Sweater Surgery, Knitting for Good, and Making Stuff). Susan regularly teaches at Maker Faire, Pacific Northwest College of Art, MAKE Workshop, the Northwest Quilting Expo, the Pendleton Woolen Mill Store, and several other venues across the country.

Kathleen Cheetham teaches workshops and sells her pattern line at sewing and trade shows throughout the U.S. and Canada. She also runs a custom tailoring shop for women and teaches classes on fitting and design. Her articles have regularly appeared in Threads magazine and her line of patterns has been featured in Sew News, Threads, Australian Stitches, and Sewing World U.K. Kathleen is an author of Perfect-Plus: Sew a Mix-and-Match Wardrobe for Plus and Petite-Plus Sizes.

Louise is a contributing editor for Threads magazine and the creator of Cutting Line Designs patterns. Her articles and pattern designs have appeared in Threads, Sew News, Sewing Today, Sew Stylish, Handwoven, and Sew Beautiful magazines. An internationally recognized instructor and lecturer on sewing and design, Louise was chosen as Teacher of the Year by the American Sewing Expo and, in 2014, was inducted into the American Sewing Guild’s Sewing Hall of Fame. 

Adrian Ferrazzutti has been immersed in art, woodworking, and fine furniture all his life. Both Ferrazzutti's mother and his grandparents were antique dealers who liked to live with many of their finds before selling them, so he was always surrounded by extraordinary furniture and artifacts. The furniture Ferrazzutti produces in the shop he shares with five other craftsmen in Guelph, Ontario, reveals an excellent eye for form and line coupled with engineering savvy. A good project for him, he says, involves "very complicated work that looks simple when it's done."

Quilt designer Joan Ford is the owner of Hummingbird Highway in Syracuse, New York. She is the author of two books, ScrapTherapy, Cut the Scraps! and ScrapTherapy, Scraps Plus One!, both published by the Taunton Press.  Ford founded the ScrapTherapy program, and is a sought-after lecturer and teacher. Joan leads cutting workshops and quilt classes at guilds and quilt shops around the country.

Michael Fortune studied furniture design and construction in the early 1970s under Donald McKinley at Sheridan College, just outside his hometown of Toronto. From the start, Michael wanted to build fine furniture as efficiently as possible. Frequently building in multiples, he relies heavily on machines and on any number of brilliant jigs, which enable him to reproduce complex shapes quickly and simply.

Andrew Hunter is a former college quarterback who gets his exercise these days working wood with hand tools, playing volleyball, and doing tai chi. He’s largely self-taught in furniture making, but spent time with millwright Jim Kricker reproducing period waterwheels and timber-frame buildings. 

Roland Johnson has been building furniture for 37 years and has been a contributing editor for Fine Woodworking magazine since 2002. He is a frequent writer of tool-test articles for the magazine and is the author of The Complete Illustrated Guide to Bandsaws (The Taunton Press, 2010). He also gives dozens of seminars every year around the country on woodworking and tools. His fascination with motors and gears goes beyond woodworking. He is also an enthusiastic hot-rodder who likes to restore old cars, and is the author of Automotive Woodworking (Motor Books International, 2002). Rollie is also the founder and president of the Central Minnesota Woodworkers Association.

Matt Kenney has been making things from wood his entire life and began making furniture as a newly-married graduate student. Joe Mazurek, a generous professional furniture maker in Camden, South Carolina, taught him to cut dovetails, make doors, and hammer veneer. For the last six years, Matt has been an editor at Fine Woodworking. During this time he also has begun to repay the generosity he received as a new woodworker by helping other woodworkers to improve their skills. He has made several instructional videos, taught numerous classes at woodworking schools, and conducted private instruction.

Susan Khalje, a contributing editor to Threads Magazine, was recently honored with the Association of Sewing and Design Professionals’ Lifetime Achievement Award. She received her professional sewing training at the New York couture salon, Chez Cez et Bez, and later worked as a fashion designer and manufacturing supervisor on Seventh Avenue. An exceptional and sought-after teacher, Susan established The Couture Sewing School in 1993, and she teaches couture sewing techniques throughout the country. She teaches often in San Francisco, where she is on the faculty of The Sewing Workshop and Apparel Arts. Her professional contacts extend to Paris, where annually she takes groups of students for an insider’s look at the couture arts.

Kenneth D. King is a contributing editor at Threads magazine, a couture fashion designer, author, and popular professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.  He specializes in custom evening wear and his designs appear in the permanent collections of leading museums, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, renowned for its art and design collections.

Steve Latta is a lover of history and period furniture who lectures at museums and historic sites and gives workshops around the country. This Fine Woodworking contributing editor is also doing his part to inspire the next generation of woodworkers, as a teacher of furniture making at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster, Pa. He lives with his wife, Elizabeth, and three children in rural Pennsylvania, where he also builds period reproduction and contemporary furniture on commission.

Sewing expert, Threads author, and serger extraordinaire Pamela Leggett specializes in pattern fitting.  Her fun and informative style makes it easy to understand how to get the most out of your serger.

Philip C. Lowe, a professional woodworker since 1968, is the author of many Fine Woodworking articles and a long-time contributing editor. He is featured in the Time-Life series on woodworking and in several Taunton Press videos, including Measuring Furniture for Reproduction.He is the owner and director of his own woodworking school, the Furniture Institute of Massachusetts, and is also a well-known teacher at schools throughout North America.

Sandra Miller is an enthusiastic sewer who has also taught writing classes for many years.  She combines her interests by constructing prototype garments and writing pattern instructions for the Cutting Line Designs pattern line.  She also has written for Threads magazine.  Sandra lectures and teaches hands-on sewing classes in various venues: sewing expos, sewing stores, and guild meetings.

Judith Neukam has 50 years’ experience making custom clothing, designing ready-to-wear, fitting and alterations, working with garment manufacturers and retail textiles. As Senior Technical Editor at Threads magazine, she has contributed to many videos, including the popular series, Teach Yourself to Sew.

Gregory Paolini began woodworking in high school and found that he had an affinity for the Arts and Crafts style. Originally from Buffalo, NY, today Gregory designs and builds furniture and cabinetry from a small shop in the Smokey Mountains, west of Asheville, North Carolina. He teaches and writes about the craft and is a frequent contributor to Fine Woodworking magazine.

Mike Pekovich is the Executive Art Director for Fine Woodworking magazine. A long-time woodworker, he caught the hand tool bug when he came to the magazine 15 years ago. Growing up in California, he was inspired by the writings and work of legendary woodworker James Krenov. A visit to the Gamble House in Pasadena cemented his love for Arts and Crafts style furniture. Whether he’s teaching or working at Fine Woodworking, Mike combines his passion for the craft with his desire to demystify the process for others. He has conducted a number of video workshops and teaches regularly at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking and the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Franklin, Indiana.

Ed Pirnik spent his high school and college years apprenticing as a timber-frame carpenter. After graduating college he spent over eight years in New York City as a photographer, writer, and editor. During that time he collaborated on stories on a variety of issues around the world including conflict, travel, and national politics. He returned to Connecticut in 2009 to become Senior Web Producer for Fine Woodworking magazine, where he has been able to combine his interest in media with his love for woodworking. Ed manages both Fine Woodworking Online and Start Woodworking Online, guides all the video content produced for the websites, and hosts and produces the Fine Woodworking bi-weekly podcast, Shop Talk Live.

Richard Raffan is internationally acclaimed for both his woodturning and his teaching, and is a leading figure in the worldwide woodturning community. Creating renowned gallery-quality work for more than 35 years, he is also the author of several best-selling books and DVDs on woodturning, all published by The Taunton Press. His most recent book is Turning Toys, published by the Taunton Press in 2013.

Dave Richards is an authorized SketchUp® trainer. He draws digital plans for Fine Woodworking magazine and posts for the “Design. Click. Build.” blog on the Fine Woodworking website.

Mario Rodriguez started working wood more than 30 years ago, after a four-year apprenticeship with the Carpenters and Cabinetmakers Union in New York City. After graduation he established his own shop in Brooklyn, New York serving the area's leading architects, designers, and collectors. Mario has taught in the Restoration Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City for almost 18 years. He also has taught workshops at The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, Marc Adams School of Woodworking, Kelly Mehler's School of Woodworking, and the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking. Currently, he builds furniture on commission and teaches classes at The Philadelphia Furniture Workshop.

Timothy Rousseau is the lead instructor for the nine-month comprehensive course at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine. His work has been shown in galleries throughout the Northeast and is included in private collections nationwide. Rousseau’s style is a blend of traditional and modern forms, with a high emphasis on craftsmanship. He intends his furniture to be used in everyday living.

Gary Striegler began working with his father as a trim carpenter in 1972. He is a custom home builder and co-owner of Craftsman Builders, Inc. in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Gary has a passion for trim work and a unique ability to create distinctive details. He is a frequent contributor to Fine Homebuilding magazine, writing about all aspects of trim carpentry. He teaches at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking and at home building trade shows.

Sarah Veblen is a custom fashion designer with a home-based business that focuses on creating clothing for her clientele, and that concentrates on teaching and writing to promote the craft of garment-making. She has a Certificate in Fashion Design from Baltimore City Community College and a BA from Stanford University. Dedicated to promoting sewing at all levels, Sarah teaches in her studio and other classroom venues, as well as online through PatternReview.com. She has been a guest lecturer and held workshops for many sewing groups and organizations across the country. 

Katrina Walker is an educator and designer specializing in textiles, construction, and surface design techniques. She traditionally works with natural fibers, particularly silk and wool. Katrina represents SVP Worldwide as an educator for Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff sewing machines. An alumna of Wellesley College, she has additional education in Textile Science, Fashion Theory, and Patternmaking.