Tom Peter

TOM PETER: ARBORIST WOODTURNER CREATES PIECES RICH WITH EMOTIONAL MEANING

While working on tree trimming jobs as an arborist in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, Tom Peter would notice things about the trees. “As I cut them, I would se the inner beauty,” he noted. “You can probably imagine cutting that tree and seeing that cross-section and going, ‘Oh my gosh, look at those colors!’”

So, after a friend taught him how to turn bowls, something that Tom found he had an innate talent for, he started turning some of the wood from those tree trimmings into natural edge bowls. And he found a connection between the bowls he was making, the trees they came from, and the people who loved those trees.

“My daughter coined my company a ‘heart-based company’ because that’s what this is: It’s really a labor of love, and I get paid for it, and it’s about connecting people with their trees.”