Looking Back at the ‘Master Craftsman’ Columns From 2024

Inside most Behind The Hedges magazines, our Master Craftsman column highlights people who help make our house a home. Whether in Dan’s Papers, the Long Island Press or in Behind The Hedges Palm Beach, they use their skills to refine the home, whether it’s creating an item we use or enjoy every day, like Roger Levin, who practicies woodturning (not just woodwork), Brooklyn-based Joseph Shakúff who specializes in designing artistic lighting fixtures and Jason and Samantha Nagorski of R.E.N. Design Company in Wading River, who create unique custom furniture and home accessories for an eclectic clientele.

Master Craftsman: Cris Mirabella and the Perfect First Chord

It takes Cris Mirabella about a year to make a guitar. The process is often a collaborative one, particularly when he’s creating an instrument for a working musician. The future owner might help Mirabella select the slabs of European maple, spruce or macassar ebony that will ultimately become the guitar’s neck and body. Or they might ask for subtle adjustments to, say, the voicing of the upper midrange frequencies. Virtuoso jazz guitarists might even be looking for a specific yet elusive “feel” as their fingers dance up and down the fretboard.

Levin, above, perfecting his craft, keeps a supply of wood drying on hand that he will sculpt into works of fine art.Anni Levin/@creating_anni

Master Craftsman: Roger Levin and the Art of Woodturning

Carpentry is everywhere in homes, from bookshelves to moldings, fireplaces to tables and chairs. We live in a wood world where trees are routinely transformed into furnishings around us. But if carving and cutting wood are commonly practiced crafts, Roger Levin has, if not discovered, recently begun a different way of working with wood.

James Ding: All You Need Is Love (and Art)

Southampton sculptor James Ding strives to create work that expresses the dynamic and transformative power of love.

The Undeniable Beauty of Bonsai

Chris Hayes, bonsai, Master Craftsman — Chris Hayes at work in his greenhouse.Bob Giglione

Chris Hayes is the proud owner and caretaker of about 150 bonsai plants at his home, mostly outdoors with a few tropical trees indoors. He is a practitioner of the craft of bonsai — part art, part nature and pleasure.

David and Jeanie Stiles: Building ‘Houses’ in the Sky

David and Jeanie Stiles are masters at creating treehouses tailored to the needs and dreams of their clients — both young and old.Courtesy of David and Jeanie Stiles

David and Jeanie Stiles, it could be said, specialize in construction for upwardly mobile customers. But in their case, it’s people who like creating not tall buildings but structures high up — in trees. The couple, based in Manhattan and East Hampton, have carved out an unusual niche, building tree houses or variations which they sometimes call “Hobbit houses” on the ground for middle-class and high-end customers. They built a treehouse on and for The Today Show and have built for the well-known and wealthy, as well as more typical customers, typically charging $15,000 and up.

Spreading Light, Scent and Shinnecock Culture

Shane Weeks, Master Craftsman, Shinnecock — Shane Weeks has long been a craftsman, but his latest venture is making candles.Bob Giglione

Shane Weeks makes candles designed to capture a little bit of the scent, and maybe even the spirit, of the Shinnecock Nation. They get their names from the land and come with cards explaining the role the plants they contain play in Shinnecock culture.