Gary Rogowski is a furniture maker, designer, teacher and author. Since 1974 he has built public and private furniture commissions for clients and galleries nationwide. He is a former contributing editor to 'Fine Woodworking Magazine' and has written hundred of articles and several books, including the bestselling 'Complete Illustrated Guide to Joinery'. He is also a playwright, novelist, and essayist. Rogowski has taught and lectured throughout the United States and in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Germany. In 2015, he gave the first-ever lecture in English at the École Boulle in Paris. Rogowski is the founded and director of The Northwest Woodworking Studio: A School for Woodworkers, in Portland, Oregon. In 2015 he founded a nonprofit organization, Woodworking Ideas Northwest to mentor high school students at the bench.

"Gary Rogowski has written an engaging biography that traces his development from a youthful student searching for a meaningful path in life to a highly respected and accomplished furniture maker and teacher. Alternating chapters describe his experiences as a woodworker and as a hiker and mountaineer in his native Pacific Northwest, illustrating his view that the lessons learned in each endeavor are the same. They are lessons in the quality of thinking that allows one to overcome internal barriers to internal goals. While furniture makers will recognize many of the lessons learned as their own, this book will appeal to anyone who has worked hard to identify and develop their own gifts." -- Miguel Gómez-Ibáñez, President, North Bennet Street School

"A rich life's worth of journeys both at the workbench and upon the trail, 'Handmade' can show us the way out of the woods, sure, but even better, it teaches us that maybe in the woods is the place to be. Gary Rogowski leads us gently but surely upon the path to a type of success we may not have previously considered. (Hint: it involves blisters)." -- Nick Offerman, woodworker & author of "Paddle Your Own Canoe"