Popular local musician and flourishing woodworker David Napier. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
Known for years around Central Kentucky as a guitarist and vocalist for the thunderous jam band Driftwood Gypsy, David Napier is now making a name for himself with an entirely different style of art.
In 2022, Napier launched Happy Spooning, a woodworking venture that makes — you guessed it — spoons. From big spoons to small spoons, spoons with twisting handles to spoons that look like instruments, he stretches deep into his imagination to create one-of-a-kind, functional pieces of art that he hopes will make others as happy as they make him.
According to Napier, the idea was kickstarted in late 2021 by his wife, Amanda, on the cusp of the holiday season.
“[Her] sister had just bought her a Le Creuset salt cellar, and she approached me one day out of nowhere asking me to craft her a spoon to use with it,” Napier recalled. “At the time, I was doing nothing but teaching music lessons online, so I got to work. The first one I made for her was done only using a pocket knife, but she liked it enough to post it online and within a week I had friends reaching out asking me to make more.”
A driving force behind Happy Spooning’s success stems from the art community, local and abroad, which Napier has both leaned into and offered his support. That includes folks like Kiptoo Tarus, who lent Napier the set of knives he used to craft his original spoon, along with Kaz Woodcraft, an artist with whom Napier regularly exchanges tips and tricks. Another mentor in the art community has been Norm Sartorius, a Maryland-born woodworker with items in the Smithsonian and other prestigious collections, who’s done everything from teaching Napier about the history of spoon making to sending him wood samples to carve from.
Napier creates a variety of wooden spoons, spatulas and other functional and artistic utensils, selling them at various pop-up markets around the region. Photo furnished
“There’s an incredibly deep history of wooden spoons and people who get together in groups every weekend around the globe to carve them, so it’s been really cool getting to learn from those guys and gals and becoming a part of that community myself,” Napier said.
Napier’s attachment to the art community can be traced all the way back to his childhood and his late mother, a creative type herself who did everything from make her own dolls to organize craft tables at nearby gatherings. It was through her that he realized his love for music and creating items with his hands — a casual hobby that morphed into a solid side hustle before becoming what is now a self-sustaining career. He was recently commissioned by the Kentucky Cabinet of Health and Safety to craft nearly 300 “worry spoons:” small, smooth spoons that are intended to help relieve stress or anxiety in the same fashion as worry stones.
It’s just one of the ways Napier has used this art form, which has provided much comfort and inspiration for him in recent years, to give some of those things back to the community that has supported him. We recently sat down with Napier inside the wood shop at his Lexington home to discuss how he hopes to inspire people through his work, dream projects, his mother’s influence on his art and more.
Much of the wood Napier uses for his spoons is sourced locally, from Woodcraft Lexington, though he gets it from all over. Photo furnished
Tell me about your mother and the influence she had on pushing you into the creative arts. She’s the main person that brought this all to a head and has me pushing so hard to succeed. When I was a kid, my mother was making these beautiful dancing dolls but always struggled to sell them, so I’d join her and holler to get people’s attention. When she passed a couple years ago, I began to notice the dolls of hers I still have around my house, and it brought everything full circle. It’s been really heartwarming, leaning into that and growing a craft other than just music.
Was there a specific moment growing up that made you realize that you wanted to create for a living? It was always a part of me simply because of who my mom was. That’s why building and nurturing a community is so dear to me too. When I was growing up she was pretty much everybody’s mom. Every time there was a festival, she’d set up giant craft booths and was always a fun and inspirational source for us kids. That, combined with all the help I’ve gotten from others on my journey, inspired me to return the favor by giving back to and supporting others’ dreams in any way I can.
A great example of you giving back and helping those in the community can be seen with the worry spoons you’ve made for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Could you talk about how that opportunity came about? A friend of mine made me one shortly after my mom and dad passed that I kept in my pocket for a while. When I got into woodworking, I made a few of my own and handed them out at a party. One of the people who got one even came to me later in tears talking about how they were going through a rough time and it really helped them. Overall, they were well received, leading to word getting out about them. Now, I’m making 300 worry spoons for the state!
Where do you source the wood you use? Is it all local? I get it from all over. I get a lot of stuff in town at Woodcraft Lexington, and they’re usually able to tell me if it’s locally and ethically sourced and where from. But I’ll also get calls from people all the time about leads or asking how they can send wood to me. One person even reached out recently to tell me they had an oak tree cut up and stored in their buddy’s warehouse in Versailles. When I pulled up to get it, I realized that it was the entire 14-foot tree cut into planks, which was way more than I expected there to be. It took a few extra trips but we got it all. It’s gonna be a long time before I’ve gone through and used all of it. [chuckles]
I’ve also had people from places as far away as Canada and New England sending me wood to use. It’s been just as cool to talk and build relationships with those folks as it has to work with people on the local level here in Kentucky.
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Napier says he often gets attached to the grain of the wood and leaves many of his spoons unpainted to spotlight the natural grain. Photo furnished
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Napier says he often gets attached to the grain of the wood and leaves many of his spoons unpainted to spotlight the natural grain. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
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Napier says he often gets attached to the grain of the wood and leaves many of his spoons unpainted to spotlight the natural grain. Photo furnished
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Napier says he often gets attached to the grain of the wood and leaves many of his spoons unpainted to spotlight the natural grain. Photo furnished
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Napier says he often gets attached to the grain of the wood and leaves many of his spoons unpainted to spotlight the natural grain. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
Looking around your workshop, I’ve noticed that a few of your pieces are painted, but most are left without. Do you typically prefer the natural wood look? I paint sometimes, but I’ve watched the grain change so much in each piece that it almost becomes like a little buddy that I get attached to and don’t want to change. Seeing the progression of taking a little block of wood, carving into it and following the grain as you create your piece — then at the end, you oil it up, which gives it more character that you’d never be able to get if you’d just painted over everything instead.
How do you hope to inspire people or make them feel through your art? Eventually I just want to impress the younger generation. I hate to sound like an old man, but it seems that younger folks today aren’t as interested in something old as they once were. There’s a disconnect with those very tactile things — like using your hands to build something — and there’s not enough of that, never has been. I just want to be able to leave something on this Earth for when I’m gone. There may be kids who decide that woodworking isn’t for them but something like music, painting or theater is, and that’s great! It doesn’t matter what it is, I just hope my work inspires others to pursue creative hobbies or careers as well.
Do you have any dream projects? I’d love to do a gallery show at some point. Something at the Loudon House would be really cool! My vision for a solo show would be diving into spoon making as an art. Some spoon makers make non-functional spoons using tons of techniques, from incorporating joining techniques to woodturning and knife carving. In my exhibit the sculptures would be modern reflections of my emotional state while creating each individual piece. Some may be made to recreate a memory or an idea and others not, but I’m nowhere even close to that becoming a reality yet.
What role do the arts play in Lexington and what would you like to see done to grow the community even more? We need a lot more diversity and inclusion, especially in the organizations around town with influence in the matter. My goal, especially after the Take Back Cheapside movement, is to put my face in places where you normally don’t see people who look like me, in the hopes of others seeing themselves in my work and realizing it’s something they could do too. There’s already some great events in town that do that, like Art on the Town at Tandy Park and SoulFeast Week, but there’s always more that can be done. Giving more people a seat at the table will make our community a better place for us all.
What’s been your biggest challenge and biggest joy so far with your woodworking venture? Time has been both my biggest challenge and joy because I never have enough time to do everything I want, but at the same time, without time during the pandemic I probably wouldn’t have picked up this skill in the first place.
Happy Spooning will be a featured retail vendor at the Crafted Social Holiday Market at Greyline Station Dec. 6-7. Spoons are also available for purchase at the website www.happyspooning.com. Photo by Emily Giancarlo