Daily Inspiration: Meet Ben Kreye

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Kreye

Hi Ben, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Growing up my Dad was a residential contractor, so I was always around crafting and building. As I got older I started to eye in on the details, and how to make things unique. That’s when I started to realize I had a love for furniture building. In 2018, I created Voskors Woodworking and started to build cutting boards, cookbook stands, cribbage boards, and similar items and listed them on Etsy. The furniture craft wasn’t going to happen overnight since I had to shape my skills, so I spent a few years building smaller items. Plus, this is all while having a Monday-Friday, 7am-4pm job. In 2021 I started building furniture, working mostly nights and weekends to build dining room tables, hutches, fireplace mantels, music cabinets, etc.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Owning a small business while also maneuvering a full-time career is never easy. The day job comes number one, so I’ve had to put a hold on projects due to some challenges with timing. All this is brought to the attention of the customers prior to agreeing to work together. So far, it’s been working out pretty well! I would also say that building some of the larger pieces has been difficult since my workshop is just a small two-car garage. There is a lot of moving parts and pieces in and out of the garage. Thankfully I have a very understanding wife who let’s me store some items inside the house as needed!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Currently, I am working on crafting my skills with cabinets. I’ve done built-in bookshelves for a couple customers, as well as bathroom vanities. Currently I am remodeling our own kitchen, building all the cabinets and adding in some unique touches, such as a narrow pull out drawer to house baking pans, spices, utensils, etc. I’m hoping this will drive the cabinet market and I can start to build custom kitchens.

One piece I’ve built is a large walnut hutch for a new salon in Denver called The Olive Tiger. Standing at over nine feet wide and seven feet tall, this was a piece that moved in and out of the house a few times to get it all crafted together. It turned out absolutely beautiful. Another piece that I love is a music vinyl record storage cabinet I built for a customer to include sliding tambour doors. I learned a lot from this build and cannot wait to build another!

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Arvada/Denver is our home. My wife and I were both born and raised in Minnesota but from summer family trips and winter skiing, we both fell in love with Colorado. We moved out here in 2005 for school in Fort Collins and in 2012 moved to Denver. A couple years in there we did move back to Minnesota, only to truly realize that our hearts are in Colorado. So in 2021 we moved back for good!

Pricing:

• -All pricing is custom to the current market for wood
• -Pricing is negotiable prior to starting the build.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://voskorswoodworking.com
• Instagram: @voskorswoodworking
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/voskorswoodworking/
• Other: https://voskorswoodworking.etsy.com