Handle with Care is a grass-roots endeavor that specializes in partnering with organizations and artists to form tools and forge communities. As project leader and visionary, my ambition with Handle with Care is to develop cooperative relationships with local groups to provide solutions that support their passion of caring for nature in the urban environment. I recently collaborated with the Portland Fruit Tree Project to supply them with a series of hand-crafted garden tools to assist them in their spring planting. In addition to making objects, I offered a tool maintenance and repair workshop in order to create an awareness around the value of repair and the importance of reuse. Creating each tool from repurposed materials was in collaboration with local artists and master craftsmen. This project preserved craft traditions and simultaneously initiated dialogue, demonstrating the ability to build relationships and initiate change through the process of making objects. I will continue my relationship with local artists and the Portland Fruit Tree Project after school in order to ensure a valuable collaboration and the longevity of the tools.

Winner of 2014 Applied Craft + Design Program Award
Winner of the 2014 Applied Craft + Design Leland Iron Works Residency