roger wood

What is your name and what medium(s) do you work in?
My name is Roger Wood and I work with mixed (very) media. I make handmade whimsical timepieces from my huge collection of antique bric a brac.

What question do you wish would be asked in an interview and how would you answer it?
1. I want to buy everything you have? Just kidding.
2. Why do you do it? It’s in my blood – the urge to create things. And I don’t like working for others. Also I’m ADHD in the extreme and bouncing around from one project to another suits me. There are many skills in this business, e.g. marketing, record keeping, bookkeeping, photography, Photoshoping, purchasing, crating and shipping, customs documents, doing trade shows, looking after accounts payable and receivable – sometimes I just call myself a small manufacturer.
3. I don’t know but I’m often asked where I get all my stuff. I’m a flea market junkie; I’ve been to flea markets in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine. I buy a lot of stuff on Ebay as well. I love to root around in boxes of junk under tables and in dark dusty corners. I think this satisfies my primeval urge to hunt and gather; there are no woolly mammoths left but there is good junk.

Why clock making? and why in hamilton?
I used to make assemblages but discovered that people are more likely to buy functional art – art that that ‘does’ something. I’m happy to make a living, sort of, from doing what I love to do. I moved to The Hammer because it’s more affordable than Toronto and Hamilton is close to Toronto and to the border, it has interesting architecture, a growing arts community and the people here are really friendly.

Who or what inspires you?
My original inspirations were assemblage artists Louise Nevelson and Joseph Cornell. I also have a love of industrial age machinery and tools, especially if they’re made from wood and/or brass.

Any wisdom you'd like to share about living as an artisan?
Gotta follow your gut, I guess. I grew up as a typical male, thinking mostly with my mind; it took me a long time to learn to listen to and trust my intuition. Every decision I’ve made based on my gut feeling has been good.


and if you want to own one of these as badly as i do check out:
klockwerks by roger wood