Page 28 - Sharp: The Book For Men SS21

MICHAEL
LA FAVE /
EDITORIAL
& CREATIVE
DIRECTOR
MY GRANDFATHER WAS A FURNITURE REFINISHER. He had a shop in his garage, and a bit more work space in his basement, and a steady stream of business that he didn’t charge enough for, but he did just fine all the same. A bit of backstory on the house: he built the basement on gifted land, as he was a WW2 veteran, in what’s now a very, very posh part of Toronto while working a day job at a factory and living two hours away by streetcar. Once the basement was done, he lived there, along with my grandmother and father, then one year old, and proceeded to complete the rest of the house himself.
I’ve romanticized this as somehow desirable, as surely it was far from pleasant, yet the sense of accomplishment and ownership must have been incredibly satisfying. It might explain my recent interest in watching people build cabins from scratch or make drastic career and life-di- rectional changes such as desk jockey to — you guessed it — furniture-maker. While these make for welcome distractions, I started to think...could I make
that kind of life change, and if so, how?
The immediate inclination is to simply look at your overall financial situation
to see if you have the resources to bridge the gap from one income stream to the next, should you even be able to get there. Depending on what you want to do, there are myriad other practical considerations — such as do you have the facilities, and if not, where you might get them, and whether or not that aligns with your kids’ schooling or your partner’s career. So not exactly easy, logistically speaking.
But a romanticized daydream is not a plan, and it’s not reality either. Hard to remember exactly what reality was or is at this point, but I suspect it’s much more aligned with what I’ve spent decades working toward. So what does this mean? It means I need a hobby that isn’t work and that isn’t browsing the Internet and social media. It means I should take the advice I give to my 10-year-old son and do something productive. That used to be a strict exercise regime, but that’s proven very difficult to stick to this past year and, ultimately, it mostly serves my vanity, despite the pretext of being for health, which is a collateral benefit, to be sure.
To wit, a hobby. Something “productive.” There are many things I’d like to learn to make and many skills that will be required. I’d better stop dreaming and get started.
28 BFM / SS21 LETTER
PHOTO BY MATT BARNES