Barn the Spoon

Barnaby Alexander Carder, known as Barn the Spoon (born 1981), is a British artisan spoon carver, teacher, author and co-founder of Spoonfest, the annual international festival of spoon carving in Edale in Derbyshire, UK. He is also founder of the Green Wood Guild, a collective of green wood carvers who run carving workshops

Early life and education Carder was born in Oxford in November 1981 and grew up in Berkshire. At the age of 12 a neighbour introduced him to woodturning by showing him how to make bowls and soon he had a lathe in the garage of his parents' house. He graduated from Bristol University with a degree in biology, intending initially to become a biology teacher before becoming apprenticed to a cabinet maker. After apprenticing himself to green wood worker Mike Abbott in Hereford, he then spent 3 years working in forestry and living in the forests, sourcing green wood. finding that the spoons sold better in cities. The guild provides courses in woodworking, carving, whittling and bladesmithing and runs two regular clubs, Whittlers Anonymous and Spoonclub. Carder states that a single spoon can take him from twenty minutes to two hours to carve. and his spoons have also sold in the Conran shop in Tokyo. In 2016 Carder and Robin Wood joined Stevie Parle during London Craft Week to explore wood-fired cooking and how dining from wooden utensils can affect the experience of eating. Carder has been described by the press as "legendary" and it has been said that "No one in Britain knows more about crafting a spoon from green wood than Barn the Spoon".

Teaching Carder teaches spoon and bowl carving at his shop on the Hackney Road and has run courses at various other venues around the UK including Stepney City Farm, Tate Britain, the Pitt Rivers Museum and Heal's.

In May 2017 Carder published his first book, a spoon carving guide entitled Spon: A Guide to Spoon Carving and the New Wood Culture published by Penguin Books. 'Spon' refers to the Anglo-Saxon English word for a wood chip which is believed to be the etymological root of spoon. Carder explains the need to think in three dimensions, as with other forms of sculpture, and has said "Perfection is always just a spoon away."

Spoonfest

Carder is co-founder of Spoonfest with Robin Wood MBE (trustee and ex-chairman of the Heritage Crafts Association). Spoonfest is an annual international festival of spoon carving that has been held in Edale, Derbyshire since 2012, with 200 people attending in the first year.