who we are

My family loves the lake. We spend a few weeks every year at the same lake in Northern Michigan, Lake Bellaire. It only seemed fitting to combine my love of the lake, and my family into naming this venture. The “BLACK” portion of our name comes from our family names: Brayden, Leland, Avery, Corry, and my ridiculously supportive wife, Kelly. I always feel bad leaving our cat and dog, Gracie and Loki out…and to be honest, our new baby, due in October, does not have a name that will lend itself to our current anagram smoothly…but the point is, the name Black Lake is born completely from a place of love and inspiration…inspiration that drives creation.

I gained my love of woodworking from my late grandfather. When I was a child…maybe 6 or 7, he created a couple of pieces of miniature furniture out of wood. As I grew older, I saw him do more and more, and was able to pick up a little here and there. I was always in awe of the collection of tools in his garage. Once I became a homeowner, I began to accumulate tools of my own, and began to make items…quite rudimentary at first, honestly. I was far better at DIY style projects than at fine woodworking.

Over the years the number and quality of my tools both improved, and as I continued to create…so did my skill level. One day as I was going down the rabbit hole watching Youtube videos, I came across a video of a decently well known Youtuber (at least decently well known if you’re into woodworking anyway). He was creating an incredibly expensive table. I watched the video, and then several more and during the conversation that followed with my wife the realization hit me that I have every tool and every skill to do what he does.

I’ve worked in corporate America all my life, but always wondered if I could make a living by doing something I love instead…creating with craftsmanship. This guy was doing it. I began to look, and there were many more just like him. That created an itch that I’ve been working to scratch every since.

Simply put, I decided to try to make a living by creating cool stuff people will love.