ITHACA, NY (CortacaToday) — The Hammerstone School, which aims to make learning the trade of carpentry more accessible for women and nonbinary individuals who may face more challenges in learning a trade, is opening a new facility at 720 West Green Street in Ithaca on July 15th, 2024.

The school opened in 2013, started by Maria Klemperer-Johnson who originally pursued a career in computer science. “It was my way of doing construction in a way because you start with nothing and build something from it,” she says of her career in computer science. She didn’t start her professional career in carpentry until 2002, but she had always felt a natural pull to the field and had experience with her dad growing up as he was a hobbyist woodworker.

Students at Hammerstone, photo courtesy of the Hammerstone School

Working in Seattle and finding that working in the corporate world wasn’t what she wanted her career to look like, Klemperer-Johnson considered going to school for carpentry, but ultimately decided to study geology instead for a change in pace. She was accepted to Cornell’s PhD program for geology, which is what brought her to Ithaca. However, there was still a calling to the trades that she could no longer ignore, which led her to drop out of grad school and pursue carpentry as a career.

Her first job was with Red Barn Cabinet Shop, where she focused on fine woodworking and expanded on the background she had from working with her dad. From there, she jumped into the world of carpentry and didn’t look back, learning rough carpentry as well as the more refined aspects of it. Learning and absorbing as much as she can is something she never gets tired of, remarking that “When I haven’t learned something new in a while I start to get antsy. Building on the knowledge you have and finding new things you didn’t know before is the most rewarding part.”

Hammerstone student, photo courtesy of the Hammerstone School

After working in such a male-dominated field for about ten years, the lack of access for women and nonbinary people to have a positive learning environment in carpentry started to get old. Cultivating a welcoming learning environment is what drives the Hammerstone School. As Klemperer-Johnson says, “You’re inevitably going to mess up, that’s part of learning. Having a place where you feel like it’s okay to make those mistakes and can learn from them is what we strive for.”

Hammerstone aims to give people the chance to get into the trades, or simply learn more about what they’re capable of without feeling like they’re up against the preconceived notions of others. With a sliding scale for pricing that is based on an honor system, the school wants to make their classes as accessible as possible.

Their new location in downtown Ithaca is helping them do just that, as it will improve geographical accessibility to classes for those who are interested. The shop will allow for those who may not have reliable transportation all the way out to Trumansburg to be able to easier get hands-on experience in carpentry. Additionally, it will allow the school to teach more classes during the fall and winter seasons, as the barn in the Trumansburg location is not as protected from the elements.

Hammerstone offers a plethora of classes that can get people started in carpentry or build on pre-existing knowledge they may already have. For a full course offering list, click here. To get even more details about the school, visit the Hammerstone School website.