which Offerman built, hangs
from the ceiling. There’s a gor-
geous hunk of patterned burl,
soon to be a coffee table for
Parks
and Recreation's,
Rashida Jones.
Just about finished is another
table for a feature story in
Fine
Woodworking
about a router jig
he invented for flattening slabs.
It’s ultimately destined for the
artfully decorated Hollywood
house he shares with his wife,
actress Megan Mullally (best
known for her role as kooky
Karen Walker on
W ill & Grace').
‘She’s an obsessive, incredible
interior designer,” Offerman
says, and every so often she’ll
come through the shop and lay
claim to a piece. “She’ll say,
‘W ho’s this for?’ I’ll say, ‘It’s for
that magazine article.’ And she’ll
say, ‘That’s for Mommy.’ ”
Just off the main studio is
an office/kitchen furnished
with vintage cabinets painted
bright green and odd knick-
knacks, such as a couple of
quirky little wood men carved
by a friend. Here, as a country-
folk-bluegrass mix wafts softly -
occasionally interrupted by the
buzz of a drill or saw - Offer-
man relaxes and talks about
his intertwined creative lives.
Even without his T V charac-
ter’s trademark pompadour
and bland office attire, those
distinctive arched eyebrows
and that deep, resonant voice
give you the strange sensation
that you’re talking to a hipper,
mellower Ron Swanson. It
quickly becomes apparent he
thinks a lot about handwork -
especially its spiritual and social
value. He’s eloquent, and eager
to proselytize.
Craft “carries a lot of medi-
cine,” Offerman says, and he
prescribes a little dose for us
all: Once in a while, get off
the computer, turn off the T V
(after
Parks and Recreation,
of
course), and turn on to hand-
work. “It’s for your own good if
you can find something you can
make. And there are so many
choices - you can make things
in the kitchen, in the garage,
in the woodshop; you can blow
glass. And with the Internet,
These side tables of
redwood burl are
squared, sanded, and
finished just enough to
be functional without
overshadowing the
character of the wood.
Offerman made a deck
of cards for his wife’s
52nd birthday. The
kings and queens are
likenesses of their two
dogs, which he drew.
you can now learn how to make
so many things without ever
needing to go to, you know,
Windsor chair school.” (Not that
he personally wouldn’t
kill
for
the opportunity to go to Wind-
sor chair school, he adds.)
Offerman has that genuine,
down-to-earth quality you see
so often in craftspeople (if not
always in Hollywood). It’s a
credit, probably, to his Mid-
western upbringing, which
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