BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — HatchSpace, a nonprofit woodworking school and community workshop in Brattleboro, Vermont, has launched From Forest to Workshop, an 8-week, full-time, 300-hour intensive program in wood furniture and products innovation, beginning in September of 2025. The immersive program offers participants the opportunity to study wood as a material, as well as methods of manipulation that support furniture and product design through sourcing, designing, drawing, cutting, sawing, joining, bending, and gluing. The perfect gap year experience or career-changing accelerator, HatchSpace invites participants to spend the fall season making something real in Vermont.

The program will be delivered from HatchSpace’s woodworking facility in downtown Brattleboro, a region surrounded by hardwood forests. Students benefit from a geography well positioned to gain an understanding of the interconnected field of sustainable forestry and its impacts on wood furniture and products innovation, the company states. The program's full cost is $6,700, but offers the option of a deposit of $600 to reserve a seat and scheduled payment plan. 

Students will benefit from a wide-ranging team of more than nine experienced and award-winning woodworker educators. Some of the notable instructors include: Heather Tauck, a custom furniture designer who serves as the program lead, and Charles Thompson, a prize-winning greenwood worker and furniture maker. Woodworking professional Garrett Hack will also join, as will Ethan Tapper, author of “How to Love a Forest.” With such a diverse team of woodworker educators, students are assured to benefit from an equally diverse range of methods in the field. HatchSpace’s co-founder and a lifelong woodworker, Tom Bodett, will lead workshops.

The curriculum includes both traditional and advanced techniques, blending craftsmanship with cutting-edge technology. Through project-based assignments, field trips and a rotating roster of expert instructors, students will develop essential woodworking and design skills. They will also gain hands-on experience with a variety of tools, from hand planes to CNC machines, from milling equipment to laser cutters.

The program is designed for adult learners. If you will have finished high school but not yet be 18 by the start of the program (September 8, 2025), HatchSpcae encourages you to reach out to discuss before enrolling. 

Scholarships are available and students leave with a Certificate of Completion. Learn more and apply at hatchspace.org/intensive.