Meet Derik Penny of Pennywood Supply CO in East Denver, East Colfax

Today we’d like to introduce you to Derik Penny.

Derik, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
This is every nerd’s dream, to answer the origin story question. I guess to trim the fat I’ll say that it all stems from my dad. Self-efficacy wasn’t a skill you gained growing up in our household. It was basically a subchapter of our chores. Cutting and hauling wood. Being a part of the “Bucket Brigade” during heavy rain, running manageable sized buckets of rainwater away from the house at the gutter’s end. And with five kids, our parents had plenty of creativity to work with. But outside of the basic work, there was these small moments of creating that were the kindling of my future fires. With not a lot of extra cash, my dad delighted in making hockey sticks out of scrap pine, for us to destroy in the winter. Or cutting out baseball bases from plywood and painting them white for the neighborhood games. Handmade wind chimes or home repair, all us Penny kids were in the proximity of that type of knowledge and ingenuity. But when he died unexpectedly when I was 17, I felt like I had not learned or done enough from him and with him. I avoided making for a while because of it, but its just something you can’t ignore. Here I am in now, my 30’s, a healthy passion for art and woodworking and trying to convince the world they’re the same thing. And in the wings telling myself, my dad would be digging what I’m doing if he were still around.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Anybody who goes down this path knows how true Robert Frost’s poem is. It’s never smooth and it’s never easy. But that’s why it’s “made all the difference”. Toxic construction sites are a sad norm in my world. Big egos clashing and usually, the fragile masculinity is palpable. There’s also this constant learning curve that makes every new skill in woodworking you go after make you feel like a terrible unskilled maker. You can spend a whole life chasing the mastery of it and still die a student. But it’s all worth it. When I lose sight of that, wanting to cash in for a cushy job, my wife Gina, usually shows up right on cue to tell me I’m being absurd and that I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing. I heard once “there are two types of jobs in the world, ones that you shower before work, and ones that you shower after, and the world needs both.” That helps me stay on that less-traveled path.

Please tell us about Pennywood Supply CO.
I put a name to it in 2013. My first official passion gig was a small urn for one of my best friend’s pet parakeet’s ashes (RIP Mijo), and felt like a did some real work in this world. No money exchanged, just time well spent. I guess in the world of throw away furniture and fast fashion, Pennywood is trying to stay the course of meaningful work. My main goal is to create things that will hopefully outlast me, bringing back the true meaning of heirloom. And while I’d love to live a life of taking my time on pieces of furniture or art, I enjoy making smaller things that also bring some joy or usefulness in someone’s life, like wooden earrings, beard care goods, handkerchiefs, kitchen tools or wooden lunar cycles.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Ah, yes. The hindsight dilemma. If I could start over, I would’ve started earlier. And with that, I would have invested in the formal education of woodworking. I, like a lot of my generation, fell victim to the pressure of college and chasing that endless path of projection. I tell myself all the time, “you could’ve had such a head start by now.” But no work will get done if I’m dwelling in the past….. and there’s always sanding I should probably be doing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pennywoodco.com
• Email: pennywoodco@gmail.com
• Instagram: @pennywoodco

Image Credit:
Josh Olsen, Gina Cuomo, Chad Bratt

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