CO:member Spotlight: Bryce Miller and the Art of Woodworking
Written by Maddie Steele
Bryce Miller, one of our new CO:members, has been woodworking for over 30 years of his life, since the age of 8, as he grew up helping his grandfather on the farm. At a young age, he would make yard ornaments for neighbors at Christmas time, and as time went on he began doing more complex projects. He’s always retained woodworking as a hobby, doing projects for friends and family as they would make requests. He decided to make this hobby into a business when he quit his corporate job in December 2021, and that’s when theCO came into his business journey.
“It’s almost like a ready-made platform here at theCO that is already designed and ready to fit the pieces of a business’s puzzle together pretty rapidly,” said Miller.
Bryce and his wife have known about theCO since she came to speak at an event a few years ago, but when Bryce decided to take his woodworking full time and needed a place to work, theCO was the perfect fit. He is always in the Makerspace, making projects for clients or doing commission work. His end goal is to create certain pieces of furniture or goods that he can replicate and make lines of products specific to him.
His motto is quality. He wants to bring back quality made furniture that will last a lifetime, and his favorite types of projects are ones that combine modern line work with natural elements mixed in.
Bryce not only has access to all the tools at theCO, but he also has access to the wealth of knowledge found in the staff. He wants to learn how to use the tools he’s never used, like the laser cutter or 3-D printer. The Makerspace has provided a whole new area of skills he can develop and allows him to work on several projects at once.
“I really want to utilize my time here as a way to build my brand and be able to jumpstart something quicker rather than later,” said Miller. “I want to utilize the time as a proof of concept for my work, to be able to come up with certain pieces of furniture or types of goods that I can replicate or come up with lines of products to offer. I want to be able to do what interests me instead of always chasing things that don’t always interest me but pay the bills.”