Hey Hew!

I guess this is where I should let you know who I am, where I’m from and if you’re really curious - what I ate for breakfast. I’m born and raised in Calgary, AB, Canada and I’ve lived here my entire life. My first experience with woodworking was in junior high school during shop class. We learned about wood, metal, leather, plastics and throughout my tenure I made some pretty awful works of art. No….they weren’t art…they were just awful. But I stuck with it and continued to learn how to make things better!

After high school I went to SAIT and got a diploma in Computer Engineering and this set me up to work as a technician fixing electro-mechanical things then dove into the world of corporate IT support. And that folks, is how fast 15+ years of your life can pass. Then on January 13, 2022 the depressing world of corporate IT decided they were done with me and kicked me to the curb. Yes - I was fired! Fired from the place I kept on it’s feet during the entirety of the pandemic. But hey, that’s what the corporate world is like. Everyone is replaceable, because you’re just a number to them at the end of the day. At that moment I had two options.

1: Find another soul sucking, depressing, corporate job

2: Put everything I had into Hewman Made and see how far I can go!

Guess which one I picked ;-)

Over the years I was working as a corporate drone I kept making projects in my slowly expanding woodshop. Collecting tools, all of which I still own and use today, even though I should probably upgrade some of them. They still work and I’m cheap, so if it’s not shooting smoke from the motor (which I’ve had happen) it’s still good!

Anyhoo….While I was collecting tools and making things, I decided one day that I should take up leather work. And not just make a keychain or belt or something, but a leather jacket inspired from a movie I’d just watched. Yep, that’s right. I’d never sewed a garment before, never worked with leather, I had no clue what I was doing, but that didn’t slow me down. I made some mistakes, figured out what needed to be fixed (kind of) and at the end I made a leather jacket! I was shocked that I finished it as well, but since then I had an affinity for leather and continued to try new things, take on projects and expand my skills and abilities.

As you may have noticed, I jump around a lot, my mind is always racing, never slowing down and the best thing for me is to have about 9 projects on the go at a time so I always have something different to work on. The result of this is a wide range of ideas that turn into actual physical things. Maybe one of those things is living in your house, or will be soon? Who’s to say, but don’t you think that would be pretty neat! I think it would be!

That was a lot of things about me. If you read all of that, then kudos to you! I appreciate you, because not everyone can handle my musings. Now as a reward I’ll tell you what I eat for breakfast. Cheerios - like everyday, but the ones with those little oat cluster things, not just the normal boring Cheerios. Also grapefruit and black coffee. Sunday’s though, I like to change it up and have bacon and eggs - Because it’s Sunday and I think I deserve a treat every so often….or every week! But the grapefruit and coffee are an everyday thing. So there you have it, Me!