Miller's best of show More than just a job for area artisan
Strasburg 1991 graduate Jeremy Miller stands near the railing that separates the visitors to the Wayne County Fair from the art that has been submitted for judging.Just beyond the railing sits the elegantly handcrafted wooden desk that has everyone who passes through the Buss Building talking.
“That desk is just incredible,” said one passerby to another.
“Thanks,” interjects Miller. “I made it.”
The exquisite desk, which took Best of Show honors in the adult craft category at the fair, represents both the culmination of years of learning his craft and a new chapter in Miller’s life.
Miller, who now resides in West Salem, began his career in his uncle’s woodworking business while still in high school. “I started out just cleaning the shop. Then one day he needed some help so I started working and have been doing everything from furniture to custom kitchens ever since,” said Miller.
Over the next 20 years, Miller honed his skills and built a successful career working in a number of woodworking shops throughout the area. But all that changed last spring when the recession deepened, and he suddenly found himself out of work.
That’s when Miller made the monumental decision to start his own business despite the difficult economic climate.
“With the experience that I’ve had at other shops and getting laid off, it made me realize that I have the ability. I can do it,” said Miller. “I’ve got the confidence. It’s time for me to do it.”
Working out of a workshop in his barn, Miller began working on projects big and small – from custom kitchens and furniture to cabinet doors. It was one of those early projects that became the inspiration for the desk.
When a customer requested a Gothic Harry Potter-style closet door panel, Miller began sketching designs. He was so intrigued by one of the designs that he searched for a way to incorporate it into a piece that he could use as a sample of his work to show to potential customers.
“You know the old saying about ‘the shoemaker’s kids have no shoes?’ Well the cabinetmaker’s house doesn’t have very good cabinets,” joked Miller. It didn’t have a decent desk, either, so Miller settled on a cherry and maple desk with window-like side panels to showcase the design.
Over the course of the summer, other jobs took time away from his work on the desk, until Miller happened to be at the fair office to enter items in the fair representing another of his talents – counted cross-stitch – and happened to notice the woodworking category. Right on the spot he vowed to complete work on the desk in time to enter it in the fair.
The results of the nearly 150 hours of work he put into the piece are stunning. For Miller, woodworking is far more than a job. It’s his passion.
“I love doing what I do,” said Miller. “Not a lot of people can say that they love to do what they do for a living. For some people they go to work and it’s a job. For me it’s not a job. It’s completely different,” he said.
“I just get lost in it,” said Miller, who readily admits to frequently losing all track of time when he’s working.
Miller particularly enjoys working directly with customers throughout the creative process – from the design, construction and finished installation. But more than anything he delights in the challenge of creating unique, custom-made pieces. “I tell people if I can draw it I can do it. I like something that really challenges me,” said Miller.
For information on Jeremy Miller’s work, call 567-203-8067 or e-mail miller woodworking@verizon.net.