By Christine Vincent
Travelers passing Hogan’s Corner may spot a new business among the vendors catering to tourists. Under the name of Forest Floor Creations, artisan woodworker Keith Hoffman is displaying his finely crafted wares while working on his next creation.
Forest Floor Creations was established as a business in July 2015. It began as a boyhood dream in the life of yacht finish carpenter Keith Hoffman. Keith tells his story in his living room amidst drying pieces of lacquered Seahawk heads waiting to be assembled into wall hangings. His wife, Jody, who is running her own Tupperware business, also from this living room, is helping the story along.
Born in Aberdeen, Keith graduated from Aberdeen High School in 1975. After a few years in millwork, Keith worked in cedar salvage for 25 years. He was injured several times and was finally forced to stop salvage work and retrain as a cabinetmaker at Bates Technical College in Tacoma. After graduating in 2006, he was hired as a finish carpenter at Westport Yachts where he worked for seven years before a layoff.
Keith was 56-years-old and his chances for the future did not look rosy. Although their five children were grown, Keith and Jody still had Skyler, Keith’s adopted nephew to raise. Instead of resigning himself to unemployment, Keith decided to take a leap and start the woodworking business that he says he had mothballed for the last 10 years.
When Keith was a child, a neighbor built and sold burl tables. He gave one to the Hoffman family. Keith remembers how impressed he was. At the age of 20, he started collecting burls with the dream of one day starting his own business making burl furniture. During the many years he worked in the woods, he accumulated a large collection of burls. “A very large collection,” Jody interjects, “they are everywhere, even under the bed.”
With the loss of his job, the time had come for Keith to realize his dream. The foundation for a wood working business was already laid. Keith had bought a scroll saw 10 years earlier. ”I was ‘hobbying’ with it in my his spare time,“ he quips.
Finish carpentry on Westport Yachts’ multi-million-dollar luxury yachts requires superior skills. After seven years at this painstaking work, Keith has gone far beyond a hobbyist to become an expert craftsman. The pieces he has produced with his scroll saw feature intricate forest motifs, leaves, landscapes, animals, and Native American themes. They are cut and inlaid with precision and beautifully finished, crafted from different kinds of wood and from burl. They are the work of a master artisan who loves the forest and who loves wood.
A man with foresight, Keith did not plunge into business blindly. He took some business courses at Grays Harbor College while enlarging his inventory after school hours. A U-Haul trailer has been converted into an elegantly finished mobile showroom. With the help of his computer-savvy daughter, Stephanie, Keith has created a Facebook page. Forest Floor Creations is ready to do business.
Working 12 hours a day, Keith has produced an impressive inventory of unique and intricate wood creations: scroll work clocks, chess and cribbage boards, inlaid coffee tables, burl tables and shelves.
His best selling items — a line of Seattle Seahawks wall hangings, cutting boards and other fan items — were inspired by his son Justin, an avid Seahawks fan. Justin asked his dad to make him a Seahawks wall piece. Keith went to the Hoquiam Timberland Regional Library to research patterns. When he described his project to library assistant, Laurie Enholm, she enthusiastically ordered a wall piece for her Seahawks fan nephew. The spectacular Seahawk head, painted beautifully in team colors, impressed all who saw it.
Chris, the owner of the Passport Cafe in Hoquiam, ordered Seahawks cutting boards as a unique presentation for his football season sandwich specials. The Seahawks items have become a bestseller with tourists at Hogan’s Corner and at the Seabrook Saturday Market where Keith has been selling his wares this summer.
Although he is happy with the success of his Seahawks items, Keith would like to focus more on crafting burl furniture and clocks. He also enjoys creating portraits of Native American chiefs. Recently, he attended his first event, the Tokeland Wood and Art Fest. Sales were excellent and Keith has decided to participate in more events.
In the future, he and Jody are looking forward combining business and vacations by attending events all over the country with their showroom trailer.
Losing his job may turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to Keith Hoffman.
Forest Floor Creations are sold every other weekend at the Seabrook Saturday Market and twice weekly at Hogan’s Corner. To make a special order, call Keith at 360-533-3800. Follow him on Facebook at Forest Floor Creations.
