- On this episode of "Making," we joined a tribe of makers who grow through learning, meet a jewelry maker who finds all materials precious, and visit a contemporary sculptor who creates elemental furniture.

That's all next here on "Making."

(gentle upbeat music) This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

(gentle upbeat music continues) Hello and welcome to "Making," the show dedicated to makers and the artistry of their craft.

I'm your host, Matt Burchett.

Thank you so much for joining us.

This week, we begin here at Build Trybe, a place where young people can come to learn a variety of trades from dedicated and caring instructors.

- It makes it.

(machine whirring) (gentle upbeat music) (gentle guitar music) - Build Trybe began because, I mean, I've been working with foster care and homeless youth probably about 13 years now.

We began Build Trybe because I just got sick of seeing my kids end up under bridges and in the prison system.

Build Trybe is a program that serves foster care, homeless youth, and other youth in need here in Kansas City.

So we have a very large youth population that is under-resourced, that does not have a safety net.

- I have both an education background and a shop background.

And so when I found out that Build Trybe was hiring, it just seemed like absolutely perfect fit.

I'm particularly interested in working with this age group because I think it's really an incredible experience to watch people go from like zero skills whatsoever in terms of working with power tools to a place where they feel really comfortable and confident using this kind of equipment that kind of allows 'em to do anything.

It helps them be a more self-sufficient person.

- Build Trybe is by far one of the best work organizations I've ever worked for.

They honestly take care of the whole person when it comes to their, I'm not even gonna say employees, because it's honestly like a village.

It's like a family.

They say it takes a village to raise a child, and every kid who comes to the Build Trybe program, it's like that entire village is there independently for that one person.

- The model is all empowerment-based, so it's completely optional for them to take part.

But they come here.

They are matched with instructors who are highly skilled in their fields.

- Public education has a really specific kind of classroom model that is not always suitable for our youth.

So when we bring them into this program, I am making a point to understand how that person learns and try to tailor the teaching experience to them as much as possible.

They're learning some basic carpentry, woodworking, and they're also learning some basic metalworking.

So that's welding, grinding, et cetera.

And we also have custom commissions where somebody is having to learn problem-solving by tackling a project that they've never worked on before.

- The longer I was in this field, the more I kept seeing my kids end up in bad places.

And so when we look at the numbers, when we look at programs that are successful, vocational programming is one of the top performers for helping kids really end up in a good place.

- We are creating an environment in which they can safely make these mistakes and learn from them.

And simultaneously, we are teaching them fabrication skills that are mostly building confidence using these tools.

And that's something that is gonna translate to their next job opportunity.

- This is a very real-world learning environment.

We really try to be hands on, and we really try to make it like any other job would be.

They have production goals, and they have to show up to work on time.

But we are working with youth where they're coming into this program very raw.

If you think about these youth, and this is the first time that they've ever been given an opportunity like this, you have to learn to work.

That doesn't just come naturally.

- For every youth, this is, of course, a really different experience.

But I have noticed really large transformations in terms of the skills that somebody brings from day one and then what they leave with after 12 weeks.

They also leave here feeling really empowered and realizing like, "Oh, I can fix that, or I can make that," which, the way that that translates to just being a person in their community is really pretty profound.

- We provide youth with shelter.

We provide youth with food.

And we provide youth with basic therapies.

But foster care has not done a good job at preparing them for the world.

They get to that age where they're transitioning out, and they don't know how to take care of themselves, and they don't know who to turn to.

And very quickly they find the few helping hands that they did have and the supports of the system they were counting on are suddenly gone.

And if there's any group that we really need to rally around, it's this one.

And so having programs like Build Trybe and organizations like Cornerstones of Care that are devoted to helping these youth populations succeed and creating those safety nets and creating those networks and creating those connections, if you look at the larger picture, it goes way beyond that.

It's really, what kind of world and society do we wanna live in?

It's way bigger than just teaching a kid how to swing a hammer.

It's teaching him how to survive.

- There is a strong correlation between youth who are experiencing houselessness and youth who identify as LGBTQIA.

And that is a community that I'm a part of and have felt really thankful to be a part of because a lot of times you are with your chosen family.

And you're not given access to a traditional safety net that other people might be.

I saw this as an opportunity to give back to a kind of younger version of myself and hopefully give somebody a really meaningful leg up.

Just being able to show somebody how to do something safely means that they can do it confidently, and if you can do it confidently, you're pretty unstoppable.

- And so this program, it replicates a real-world environment.

We kind of take 'em from ground zero to the point where they can really stand toe to toe with any other employee in a production shop.

I've had kids that I've cared about a lot, and they end up in really not great places.

And I have felt very helpless watching that happen.

And so Build Trybe and all the work we're doing here is to make it so that I don't feel helpless anymore.

So there are those tools to really help these kids find success.

Spaces like this full of tools where people can be creative and build, that is always gonna be something that's needed, but hopefully the narrative of why we're here can change dramatically.

(laid-back funky music) (gentle upbeat music) - I'm a mixed-media jewelry and assemblage artist.

I create jewelry that incorporates a wide range of different materials, but all of my jewelry is geared towards art.

(upbeat electronic music) So I'll either add art within each one of the pieces, either on the surface or doing drawings and paintings, sealing them, riveting it into the jewelry.

I also now started creating larger pieces.

So it'll be a whole wall environment piece, and that will be all mixed media, drawings, paintings, wood, all type of materials that I can pull together to create an environment that houses the jewelry as well.

So it becomes a whole theme.

So the person can take the jewelry, take it off of the piece, wear it, and then place it back into its home.

It's awesome to have a very supportive family.

I am very blessed to have a husband who is just amazing.

He works on designing my web presence.

He goes with me at every show.

I can walk away.

I'll come back, and one of the nets are empty, and he's already sold a piece.

I mean, he's amazing, and by him having a art background as well, that relationship is great.

And my art friends, which we call art family, they are the type of people who really want to see you succeed.

I've always been in art for as long as I can remember, even down to when I was a child.

My birthday parties had a drawing game.

My mom and dad and my brother and sister, everybody has a creative side.

Mom taught school.

She used to model.

Dad, photographer.

My sister's a musician, and my brother, very definitely more technology, but always tinkering and always trying to figure.

So it's always been that way.

(gentle guitar music) I love copper.

I love copper because of the warmth of the material.

I do introduce sterling silver, and I also introduce brass for a little bit of extra play between materials.

And sometimes with the jewelry, if it is mixed metals, that piece can then work with whatever they have at home.

So everybody kind of plays well together.

My first degree actually is in fashion design, fashion illustration.

So a lot of my work always incorporate women, women's faces, nature.

And I did start to introduce abstract.

My jewelry is definitely geared more towards a more satin finish.

I always try to make it more of a natural feeling.

Even when I'm putting in textures like my copper, I'll make it look more like a bark.

So then in turn, I'll use liver of sulfur.

I do seal and spray my pieces as well, Renaissance Wax to keep that tone down.

But I actually darken everything to almost bring it down to those patinas 'cause I love the richness of the color versus it being very shining, bright.

So my artwork, I try to work with the metal to give it a home that it works well in versus it being clashing.

It's not taking away from their beauty 'cause it's their beauty that also makes that piece.

I then in turn will do different drawings, paintings.

I'll do small watercolors, actually take that, seal that artwork, and then rivet it into the metalwork as well.

So then in turn, it'll have a piece of paper or watercolor.

I'm beginning to start to introduce a little bit of photography.

Sometimes I'll actually add fabric and things, definitely more mixed media.

And I also now have been working with a resin where I'm hand-coloring it.

It's almost like shrink art, so you bring it down in size.

But this material is strong enough that I can hammer with it.

I can saw it and then incorporate my artwork into my pieces that way as well.

Just always wanna incorporate art into the piece.

And I pull all of that together to create that one-of-a-kind piece for that customer.

And then, for me, it's kind of the one-and-done.

I do the piece.

I go to the art fair.

They get that piece.

We actually go to my sketchbook, They sign it.

It's retired then.

I do not remake it.

I go to the next piece.

So it's always wanting that art to be the center versus the gemstones or the metal.

I want them to be connected to the art.

(laid-back funky music) (gentle upbeat music) - Everybody, this is Matt.

So Matt is joining us from the show "Making."

- You got it.

- Did I get it right?

- You got it right.

- All right.

So Matt's coming from the show "Making" to just kind of take part in Build Trybe today.

So he'll be working with us on everything that we're gonna be building and doing.

And we got a pretty exciting project, or a couple exciting projects today.

I think the really big one, though, if you all could come in here and see the screen.

So come around here.

Come around here, guys.

So come check this out.

So there's a local women's shelter called Newhouse, right?

for women and children that are facing some pretty tough times, right?

So this is domestic abuse.

They need a safe place to stay.

And if you can imagine, if you're a little kid, and all of a sudden, you're leaving your neighborhood, you're getting put in this emergency shelter, that can be really rough.

So Newhouse got some funding together to build a play structure inside.

So this structure is pretty cool.

It's cool 'cause we have the honor or the privilege of getting to build it.

But it's gonna go right next to a climbing wall, so an indoor climbing wall, and then there's a big padded floor for roughhousing.

So with this structure, the youth will now have a cool hangout for it right next to the roughhousing area and the climbing wall area.

- Okay.

(people chattering) (saw whirring) We have three in one.

- Three in one, so we're doing 37.

It's a lot quicker, especially if you're doing a lot of measurements at one time.

- This whole way.

But if you have this dead-on on that center point, that's like (speaks indistinctly).

And the tape can move a little bit, so make sure you're holding that still.

- [Apprentice] Yeah, okay.

- That's how I remember it in my brain.

- How have I never heard that before?

- I don't know, I arrived at it one day, so I don't know if that's.

- Yep, there you go.

Pull it up.

Yeah, exactly.

- You have a trick for everything.

- 22 5/8.

So you got four, five, six, and 22.

- It's kind of an unusual structure, but all of the same principles are gonna be there.

(saw whirring) - Samuel Hill!

- Yeah, we can check that with him.

- Yeah!

- He was explaining to me the way that that gets cranked out, it's sketching.

I'm doing everything with a pen here.

So if this is the center point, and we know that the next board that's coming in here is an inch and a half thick.

It just evaporates the wood, essentially.

So if you cut on this side, it would end up being too short.

- As you can see, this is the edge of the tooth that cuts into the wood.

(volunteer chatters) - What's your end goal?

One tick per foot, two ticks for inches if you say inches.

- He's a have-person.

You have to try again, too.

- Force with both hands to pull these together while I screwed it, so I didn't wanna push it away.

And so now when I come back in with this piece.

- [Matt] 45 7/8.

Whoo, like we meant to do it that way.

- [Kendell] You wanna stand it up, see how it looks, see how it like supports some people's weight?

- How many people can we stand up?

- [Kendell] Small children, small children.

Looks pretty good.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

- It's like it'll do the thing.

- Yeah.

- Does it look like the drawing?

I think so.

- Yeah, you wanna hold up the drawing?

It looks just like that.

Amazing.

I don't know where that one drawing went.

- I have no idea.

It wandered off.

- Oh, there you go, okay.

Yeah, exactly.

- Yeah, pretty much.

- Fantastic, okay.

- Thank you guys again for letting me come and help you out on a project.

It's pretty worthwhile project for the Newhouse, and thank you for letting me spend the day with you all.

It's been fun.

- Yeah, thanks for coming.

- This looks great for three days involved in construction.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

You're killing it.

- Three days in, yeah, you're gonna be on a construction crew in no time.

- [Matt] For sure.

(laid-back funky music) (worker sanding wood) - This shop started in '93, and they did a lot of custom fixtures and kitchens, executive offices.

And up until 2008, they were in full production.

Everything kind of grinds to a halt, and I walk through the door, not because I walk through the door, but, you know, but just the recession.

And it was just the owner and his wife who were operating everything.

I come in, ask for an internship, just figuring, oh, they could use my help.

I've read all these woodworking magazines and watched YouTube videos.

I know what I'm doing, and I come in, and he just looks at me.

He says, "Nah, no thanks."

(laughs) But you can sweep that floor over there for a while.

So I did that for about a year, year and a half, until he finally started letting me work on some things here and there.

So ended up working with him for about 4 1/2 years, and they decided to retire and basically gifted me all the machinery as back pay for my unpaid internship.

For the first, I would say, probably four years, I continued with Dave's business model, which was all completely custom.

Someone would come up with an idea, hey, I want something like this, or I have this little room in my hallway.

I want a table that just fits that.

And that was great.

It really afforded us and me, in particular, time to investigate those different processes, learn how to produce work that's site-specific.

And there's a lot of challenges that come with that type of model.

But there's no real way to scale it, and I soon started looking kind of beyond.

I wanted to see, Reading, "Dwell" and "Architectural Digest," "Lux Magazine," you just see kind of what's out there and what people are capable of doing.

I never really considered myself an artist.

I always figured I was more of a designer, more of a kind of an engineer.

I'm always meticulous about connection details, about materials, what are the limitations of this material, what you can do.

A lot of what the designs end up being are informed by what the material's capabilities are.

And I try to push those as much as I can, whether it's like a long cantilever, how far can you span a tabletop without it flexing or racking or tipping over?

I'd categorize the pieces as kind of a classic contemporary.

From my background in traditional woodworking, I try to use a lot of those elements with the manufacturing process.

But you kind of imagine a traditional piece that's re-imagined in kind of a contemporary design aesthetic, so kind of blending the past with the present and future just until you get kind of a sculptural item that's fluid, that's dynamic, and that's just kind of a sensual, kind of a just really, really unique-looking piece.

The lines that we have represented, we're in kind of the major markets on the West Coast, in the Midwest, and on the East Coast.

So we're also looking forward to expanding into the European market.

So we're looking in London or Paris for showrooms over there, and an extension that would lead us to finding fabrication partners in Italy.

So getting to the source of the marble, finding partners who can help out with wood and metal.

So that's kind of the next step for us, is taking that design work and having it produced abroad as well, just so we can expand into those high-end showrooms in Europe.

Through traveling around, seeing different shops both here in the US and abroad, I feel so fortunate to have had a space like this for so long because you see these really high-end pieces that are produced, and then you see where they're they're produced over in Europe, and I'm just kind of blown away by how creative people are and what they can do with limited resources or a limited space.

And then you kind of just have to really think about that.

And that was one thought that I was really struck with when I was doing the show in New York and talking with different vendors, was you kind of get this idea of being from the Midwest that there's always the stuff that's out there that's so much better.

Or everyone's so much more creative or smarter, maybe.

Maybe that was my feeling from growing up reading these design magazines.

But after seeing it all, I'm lucky to have come from here.

I have all this space.

I have this network here.

I've had this opportunity that if I were anywhere else, it would've never happened.

I would never have all of this.

So I am lucky to have this.

That's not lost on me, and I'm really fortunate, really thankful.

But we're ready to really kind of dial it in and just start ramping things up because our product is, it's worthy to be on the world stage, and I'm proud to produce it here in Kansas City and show it on the coasts and soon abroad.

- That's all the time we have for this week, but we hope all of our makers have inspired you to unlock your creative spirit.

We thank you all for watching, and we hope you'll join us next time to see what we'll be making.

More information is available on social media or online at kmos.org.

(gentle upbeat music) This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

(playful music) At "Making," we enter the world of makers, people who create something from nothing.

Using ancient techniques or modern methods, these artisans will share their crafts and the processes they use to shape them.

If you want to unlock your creative spirit, we hope you'll join us every week to see what we'll be making.