Richard McCollum started woodworking for extra money, twenty years into a career in graphic arts. He apprenticed under Jonathan Simmons of Jonathan Spoons, and somewhere in learning the craft, the side job became the thing he loved. Thirty years later, he's still at it.
 

What drove him from the start was simple: as a lefty, every wooden spoon and cooking tool was uncomfortable to hold. That's the problem he's been solving ever since, one prototype at a time. 
 

Each piece begins as a block of Pennsylvania cherry wood, hand-cut and sanded, then finished with beeswax and mineral oil so it lasts for years. 
 

The name White Forest wasn't a strategic choice. It puts them at the end of every alphabetical list, which they didn't love. But everyone who heard it did, so it stuck.
 

Over the years, the business grew because people kept coming back, and that still means everything to him. It's being in the booth talking to the people who actually use what he makes. Hearing what works, what someone wishes existed, what they came back to buy again. That conversation is a big part of why he's still doing this after thirty years.
 

When he's not at a show, you'll find Richard with his three loves: family, friends, and fishing.