BUILDING

A master carpenter with over 40 years' experience in the trade offers heartfelt reflections on a life of dedicated craftsmanship.

Ellison is a New York City renovation carpenter who lays claim to additional skills as a welder, sculptor, contractor, cabinetmaker, inventor, and industrial designer. In his first book, he describes his work on high-end construction projects such as a Park Avenue apartment renovation under the auspices of his “first ‘name’ architect,” the makeover of a Central Park West aerie designed for "prominent Buddhists," and a deluxe beaux-arts town house that is a proud neighbor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ellison also built the penthouse "Apartment of the Decade" of the 2010s, as designated by Interior Design magazine, and he was profiled in a long essay in the New Yorker pegged to tours of two of his most acclaimed projects. You might expect his memoir to concern itself primarily with issues of building expertise as well as recollections of his collaborations with star architects. However, the text is more reminiscent of Robert M. Pirsig's classic metaphysical contemplation Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. While Ellison is clearly attentive to technical prowess and skillful craft, his real subjects are philosophy and the existential aspects of living in the modern world. In a prologue, the author calls it a "book for people who are interested in doing anything well.” Ellison titles the chapters based on concepts meaningful to him ("Belief," "Talent," "Competence"), and each contains a few simple lessons applicable to all manner of pursuits. Along the way, the author considers the lost traditions of craftsmanship, class conflict between homeowners and renovators, and the importance of both speed and precision in every endeavor. “In the last decade,” he writes, “I’ve been able to act as a bridge between the cerebral world of design profes­sionals and the skilled and sweaty world of the workers who realize their visions.”

Ellison demonstrates how skills in construction and design have deep resonance in more general problems of living.