MONTGOMERY CENTER, Vt. (WCAX) – Up a dirt road in Montgomery Center, you can find a reprieve from Vermont’s gray winter days.
“The amount of creative people in this town is… it’s every door,” said artist and woodworker, Derek Bond. That includes the door to his workshop, Vermont Wood Company, where color reigns supreme.
“We make a particular kind of earring that we are hoping to make a big impact on the design world with,” Bond explained.
While he mostly makes eye-catching, honeycomb wood resin earrings, he cut his teeth on a different craft.
“I made culinary knives for a long time working with a Japanese blacksmith, he used to send blades over here for me to put handles on,” said Bond, who used to make the handles with aluminum honeycomb. When he found himself with some leftover material and a bit of resin, he decided to try to make a pair of earrings for his wife. They came out great, so he made a few more pairs. Word of the new accessory quickly spread on social media.
“We were selling out every time we posted pairs,” explained Bond. “It was at that point that I was really like, ‘I have to make this into something.’”
At the beginning of the pandemic, Bond made the switch to earrings full-time. Since then, things have really taken off.
“The town here locally couldn’t get enough of them,” he said. “We’re almost at 4,000 pairs made now and going.”
We sat in on Bond’s process, and he’s got it down to a science.
“The creative process is, for me, all about getting into a flow state,” he said. “Kind of zone out a little bit.”
First, he figures out what palette he wants for each batch before mixing the resin, pouring it and letting it set. After a few days, it’s out to the workshop where they’re cut, sanded and polished. Then, they head to store shelves. Bond makes earrings and charcuterie knives available in store and online. Soon, he says he’ll be taking on chopsticks.
Despite a variety of functions, this art is all about form and freedom. Bond likes it because he creates his own schedule, allowing him to snowboard on the plentiful mountains nearby. And, he gets the chance to play with color.
”I need to be able to let out that artistic creativity. If it gets bottled up for too long I just go nuts,” he said with a smile.
Vermont Wood Co. creations can be found both online, and at a variety of stores across the state, including REI in Williston, Vt.