Lexington and the University of Kentucky have a reputation for attracting talent to the area – think John Calipari and the Wildcats, Dr Pearse Lyons and Alltech – and David Stubbs is no exception. At just 23 years old, he’s already in demand as a master craftsman of quality custom made tack trunks, cabinets, kitchens, bathrooms, stalls, barns…anything you can dream of made in wood!
He was recruited here a couple of years ago by the Historic Preservation Program at UK as their graduate research assistant, and tells me it wasn’t that hard of a sell to persuade his dressage rider fiancee, Mara Rice, to relocate. Since then, he’s been hard at work building Mara a barn, completing a walk-in closet for a lucky customer in Asheville, N Carolina, and a full cherry kitchen in Washington DC amongst many other things. No small wonder then that he just has to find the time to write his thesis before he can complete his Masters at UK!
David built this trunk for Mara about six years ago, and it gets used daily with no special care. It was used as a display at WEG, he just polished it up, and it looked as good as new. It’s crafted from maple wood, stained on the outside, and has the bandage rack a grooming kit, and tray, and all trunks come standard with wheels. Typically from the first contact with David, a trunk might take about 4- 6 weeks to make, and one with all the extras like the one above would run about $1,500.
Despite being a clean-cut 23 years old, David has been in the business for ten years already; he told me with a grin that he sold outdoor furniture in middle school, and he built this beautiful, and yes, functional, boat that was hanging from the rafters when he was in high school.
When I asked him if it was just for show, anyone else might have been insulted, but David is far too nice, and just laughed, and told me he couldn’t remember exactly, but he thinks he used over a hundred different cedar strips on it. He explained how it all started,
“Ever since I was young, and realised I could make money doing what I loved, is when I realised that I wanted to own a woodworking business. I’ve always wanted to be involved in design, construction, and just making something that makes the customer happy. So for my degree I chose something that would be an academic degree as well as a practical degree – that’s where the Historic Preservation comes in, and so not only do I have the background for doing custom woodworking in a modern sense with cabinetry and furniture, but I also have the very traditional skills and background from the very heavy timber framing and the traditional construction.”
You can see a little bit for yourself just what a lovely guy David is in person, and also get a glimpse of the stables that he built, and his workshop. Why do I keep thinking of that hilarious carpenter line in “Meet the Parents”?!
If you’d like to contact David about any of his work, or to commission a piece, you can email him at [email protected], or check out his website, www.DAStubbsWoodcrafting.com. In the meantime, you can meet Scout who keeps David company while he works, and see what he’s working on for eventer Lauren Lambert, ( AND he’s even refurbishing her old trunk for her so she has something to tide her over in the interim).
Many thanks to David for his time. It was such a pleasure to meet him, and to see such beautiful, custom, handmade work – exactly as he described, the perfect marriage between the contemporary and the traditional. Wishing him and Mara much luck and success, and wondering what he’ll think of next…! Go Eventing!
