For a Coffee Table Made From a Parking Barrier

ANDY TYSON, Skilset, Brooklyn Navy Yard, skilset.net, instagram.com/skilset

skilset operates more like a collective than a traditional top-down shop: There are usually between five and seven woodworkers sharing the space, which is directed by founder Andy Tyson, but members work autonomously on their own projects. The shop’s Friday studio sales (3 to 6 p.m.; currently by appointment only) are a good introduction to the varied work produced by the group, such as chairs made from wood found on New York City streets (like parking barriers and painted lengths of recycled plywood) and milking stools with nubby hand-carved legs. When it comes to custom projects, clients are asked to submit a description and drawing of what they’d like to have made, but the final design and timeline can be dependent on what found wood and other nontraditional lumber is in the shop at a given time (pieces made of plywood, concrete, and Skilset’s own plaster composite are more streamlined). Tyson says he might prefer to work with someone who, say, “wants a coffee table for $100 and is cool with something made from an old street sign.” Like Bijan Shahvali, who commissioned Skilset to make some custom shelves out of repurposed plywood for his new store, Leisure Centre. “Their style of using recycled and found materials is such a perfect combination of high-low, which is what we’re trying to capture at the store,” he says.