On Episode 57 of Why Make? we talk with Brad Reed Nelson, a Glenwood Springs, Colorado woodworker, furniture maker and product designer creating magical pieces made from metal and wood. Brad, aka BRN, and his better half Ann, run Board by Design, a functional design company making such brightly colored amazingness as Knuckles, The Good Pot, Elefunction, Blokkey, Bling Pong tables and the steadfast Winsorrondack chair.

We talk with Brad about his years in school and learning about life and making with the likes of Wendell Castle, Garry Knox Bennett, Paul Sasso, Sam Maloof and Gail Fredell. Brad also reminds us about the importance and necessity of community, collaboration, listening and communication, fostering relationships and being vulnerable. And how these all pile up to the create the mountain from which every single person is made.

So join us as we lean in and get all twisted up in Brad Reed Nelson’s humble sense of humor and wicked sense of design?!

(or: alternate ending)

So join us as we talk with Brad Reed Nelson about making shit your kids will fight over when you are dead.