Making Whole is a place where men come to find a path towards being whole. That is our real work here. But we also build beautiful objects for the world to enjoy.
We work in Wood, Metal, and Architectural Concrete. We only build in small batches and individual custom objects, this is not a production shop. We carefully choose the work we commit ourselves to, we are interested in well designed objects that will impact people’s daily lives.
The makers that run the shop have all been creating custom work professionally from 20 to 40 years, and each have extensive resumes in the world of craft. We take the work we are commissioned to do very seriously, and bring extensive experience to that task.
We show our work at Cohab Space year-round, and can be found there with our full offering during the High Point Furniture Market in the spring and fall. There is a range of our work that can be viewed at the Making Whole shop as well. We produce custom furniture and architectural installations, and are happy to consider commissions from the public and the trade. If you are interested in discussing a commission, please contact jeremy@makingwhole.com
An Invitation
“It’s fair to call me a run-of-the-mill alcoholic. I used to joke that I was ‘athletically alcoholic’ because I could still pull off some impressive things while I was drinking. I went to college and graduated with a degree in accounting and finance. I was career driven, but I was also debilitatingly anxious and overwhelmed by the pressures of life. Alcohol was the only solution I could figure out at the time.
When COVID hit, everything got bumped to the next level. I was isolating to a new degree. Then I got laid off–an absolute gut punch. My relationships with everyone fell apart, I was lost; to put it lightly–I felt totally screwed. My life had blown up, and I had no clue how I’d ever pull the train back on the tracks.
Somewhere between 2021 and 2022, I went to rehab. I’d never heard of Asheville, but that’s where I landed. After rehab, I moved into a halfway house that happened to have a small woodshop. I didn’t know much, but my grandfather had done some woodworking when I was small, and I had some good memories of tagging along beside him. Along with service and exercise, tinkering in that shop gave me a way to keep busy during the early days of sobriety.
I’d see Jeremy in passing. Sometimes he and his crew would stop by to drop off materials. Finally, I got curious enough about what they were up to and found my way over to Making Whole. The entire setup immediately resonated. I could picture myself there–being among a group of men who were all just trying to get their lives pulled back together.
From Jeremy, I felt genuine care–the kind I knew could sustain me while I figured out how to care for myself. Up to this point, everything in my life had felt transactional. But not with him. In so many ways, Jeremy was offering something profoundly different, and without hesitation, I accepted the offer.
Before I went through the program, I only knew myself through how I assumed other people saw me–through accolades and performance indicators. Making Whole gave me a real sense of self. I learned to slow down; to pay attention. I was given agency to feel proud of what I made, and I learned what I made didn’t have to be perfect. I built remarkable things alongside remarkable men. It was craft, and it was camaraderie. The work became mediation. It taught me patience, attention to detail, how to sit with myself and how to stop redlining my engine. In addition to making furniture, I also learned how to make meals (and how to prepare those meals with intention). It was a true brotherhood. We all wanted to get well–we wanted that for ourselves and for each other. Everyday we were faced with challenges, but our unified attitude was, “We’ll figure this out.” At Making Whole, we approached everything with a plan. Whether it was building a table or charting out my next chapter, we talked through the steps, and I was 100 times better off for it. Making Whole taught me process; that beautiful things come with time and care for each step.
I’m two years out of the program now, and my life looks nothing like it did prior to my apprenticeship. My relationships have healed. I have an incredible job as a public accountant for a national firm. I love my work, and not because it’s problem-free but because I know how to find creative solutions to the problems that arise.
I built a lot of incredible things at Making Whole, the most important being the vibrant, joyful and community-oriented life I get to live today.”
– Former Making Whole Apprentice
For nearly eight years now, Making Whole has done the steady, faithful work of guiding drug and alcohol-dependent men through a year-long journey that builds an enduring version of recovery and a life worth living.
Since 2018, over $1M in scholarship money has supported apprentices with verifiable need. The vast majority of this funding has come from within, forcing us to find creative ways to keep the lights on without compromising the quality of the experience we provide. It is my commitment to ensure no one who comes here has to leave, prior to the magic happening, on account of finances. If you feel called to support this commitment, here is how that can happen.
PIVOTPoint WNC is a trusted, local nonprofit that manages and maintains the Making Whole Apprenticeship Fund. All donations are tax deductible and go directly towards tuition for those apprentices who demonstrate financial need. Contributions can be made via the link below, through stock exchanges or via your charitable foundation. Please know your gift is necessary for the sustainability of this experiment. And more importantly, understand your generosity is changing lives in a way that is impossible to overstate.
