Greetings!

October brought our biggest event of the year, the Fall Gathering!

This was the inaugural Fall Gathering at our new home in Saltsburg, PA, and we could not have asked for a better celebration. It felt like both a homecoming, and a commencement. The warmth of familiar faces gathered along with the wide-eyed excitement of newcomers, all eager to begin our next chapter together. 

The event managed to capture the same energetic exchange of ideas and sense of community as past Gatherings, with our new location perfectly complimenting this tone. Saltsburg opened its arms to our weekend invasion of craftspeople and made our somewhat eccentric community feel right at home. With the event split between three locations in town, it felt like Saltsburg was hosting as much as the Foundation was. As in years past, the heart of the Gathering was in the inspiring confines of the Plumier workshop, now housed in the beautifully restored McIlwain Warehouse. However, this year we were also able to make use of the Salt Center for our formal presentations. The 1930’s gymatorium gave us the space and comfort for presentations while allowing the shop to remain open and unaltered for demonstrations and conversations. At no point were things cramped, and the short distance between the two spaces was hardly an interruption. In fact, the pleasant fall weather offered a beautiful walk. Our two dinners were catered across the street from the shop at the Point Street Tavern, where the food was excellent and the atmosphere unmatched. 

The formal programing of the Gathering offered a broad range of craft insight and was well received. 

Emerging Artist Megan Cantwell opened the event by properly introducing herself to the Plumier Community with a presentation on her journey into craft and work as an apprentice silversmith at Colonial Williamsburg. She spent the rest of the weekend eagerly absorbing all the information that the she could and making valuable connections with fellow craftspeople. 

David Huang presented on his journey as an artist and his unbelievable raised and chased vessels. His story spoke to the dedication of an artist to their craft required in all aspects of life to produce a unique and prolific body of work. 

Nemo Gould took us on a tour of his mind through his unique process and whimsical creations. His automata bring found objects to life with clever uses of simple motion, artful composition, and highly skilled blending of mixed media.

Nemo also presented a deep dive into his fantastical Megalodon sculpture, a 16-foot submarine diorama built into the wing-mounded fuel tank of a F-95 bomber reimagined into the form of an apex predator. 

Tom Finneran gave a presentation on lapidary and how he got into carving gemstones on machine tools. He went through his body of work including giving insight into the some of the pieces he did as part of the Zadora team. 

David Freda went through his journey as an artist from his earliest exploration of natural forms in taxidermy and watercolors, to his metalsmithing and enameling work, culminating in developing the gold enamel orchids for Tiffany & Co. 

He also showcased his unbelievable Magic Lamp, and shared his love of nature and the influence it has on his work.

Phil Poirier shared the new techniques in complex turning that he has been developing since our last Gathering. These techniques include the multiplying and dividing of rosette frequency, forms that transition between different rosettes, and complex forms created by traversing the Z-axis with Gcode loops. His results are extremely impressive and, on top of that, he has gone through the effort of creating resources to help others in the attempt. These resources will be available on our website soon, but are listed here for immediate use: 

→ Multiplying Rosette Lobes

→ Z Traversing Loops 

→ Angled Face Pattern Calculator

→ Spiral Cut Calculator

This beautiful chef’s knife was generously donated by master knife maker Bob Kramer and raised $1750 for the Plumier Foundation in a silent auction. Thank you to Bob and all who bid!

David Lindow presented on our building project and move, highlighting exactly how far we have come in the two years since our last Fall Gathering. To have a new, fully renovated, debt free home to host this event in after such a short period of time could not have been possible without the support of this community. Seeing the transformation of the McIlwain Warehouse and the move of Plumier from Port Chester was a good reminder of what this community has accomplished, and what it is now in a position to take on going forward. 

At the end of his presentation on the building, David took the opportunity to recognize two people who helped make it happen. Chuck Huether was the general contractor of the project and was the driving force behind bringing the vision to fruition. David has noted on several occasions that he would’t have taken on the project without knowing Chuck was in his corner. Member Geoffery Saver offered to come down and volunteer a bit on the building early on. Since then he has given more that 1600 hours to the project. Chuck was gifted a complex turned cigar holder and multitool made by Christian Lindow, and Geoff a trophy recognizing his work as CFO (Chief Fenestration Officer) with a golden apple alarm clock to mark his daily ritual of the 10:30 apple. 

David also presented on the future of Plumier as we look to expand our programing to take full advantage of the deep pool of talent in our member community, particularly towards larger, collaborative projects. We will have much more on this in the coming weeks. Needless to say we are extremely excited for what we have planned and know our community will be to.

Plumier Member Stu Lord finished this beautiful clock movement with a complex moon phase system. Stu has been a student of David Lindow and Steve Franke and this is now his second master-level movement. 

Between presentations at the Salt Center, time was spent in the shop exchanging ideas and demonstrating techniques. 

Sparks were flying as Pete Renzetti demonstrated his famous torch-welded “Puddled People” sculptures. He also brought with him a ranged of Puddled People and some of his larger compositions.

Pete also showcased some of the unbelievable collaborative ironwork he has made over the years as part of the Patient Order of Meticulous Metalsmiths. 

Tom Finneran set up on the South Bend 13” to demonstrate some of his techniques for carving hard stones on machine tools. A live tool, in this case a complex turning drilling frame, is fixed to the tool post and a water-based coolant drip feed is positioned to clear the cut and keep the harsh stone dust out of the air. 

David Huang demonstrated both the raising of vessels from copper discs, and the chasing techniques that he uses to further shape and add detail to many of his forms. Any moment David set to work, a crowd quickly formed to watch, drawn in by the rhythmic rapping of his hammers.

He also brought with him an incredible selection of his vessels.

What’s he doing to the Lawler? What kind of complex turning Frankenstein’s Monster will he come up with? We’ll see what Christian is up to soon… 

We threw a proper party Saturday night at the Point Street Tavern, who served a mouthwatering brazed beef for dinner, with delicious peach and blackberry cobblers for dessert. Local folk band The Wayward Companions made it a truly festive evening with beautiful renditions of 18th and 19th century folk songs that rhymed perfectly with the Victorian storefront of the McIlwain Warehouse glowing across Point Street.

Thank you to the Point Street Tavern staff and The Wayward Companions for an unforgettable night!

Mic Hunter spent the week after the Gathering helping to set up our horological studio and learning a few things from David. Mic is a visual artist with a love for fashion design who has taken quickly to the art of watch component finishing while working alongside his father, member and independent watchmaker Love Hunter (pictured together with David above). We look forward to seeing more from the father and son team soon! 

Hosting the Gathering took a massive team effort. Christian Lindow worked tirelessly for weeks to get the workshop ready for the event, as well as managing the setup of the Salt Center. Jackie Manning took on the attendee registration seamlessly, and was a huge help in clarifying the web of logistics. Board Member Anthony Nappi was pressed into service as a chauffeur, providing several airport runs and countless other rides around Saltsburg. Cody Sobel and Sebastian Dytrich volunteered to produce the AV for the presentations and demonstrations. Becky Lindow coordinated and prepared accommodations, organized meals, and generally kept everything running behind the scenes.

The Plumier Foundation is a small team and we could not have pulled off this event without support from our community. Thank you to everyone who pitched in to help with meals, transportation, sign in, cleanup, and countless other details—we coud not have done it without you. 

Magnolia, Adelaide, and Hayes Miller came to see grandma Becky and grandpa David, and enjoy fall in Saltsburg. They even got to play croquet with uncle Christian. Of course there was also some time in the shop to learn from grandpa. You can tell this wasn’t Magnolia’s first time running an LRE. 

While the presentations and demonstration were insightful, entertaining, and inspiring, in some ways the formal program is the excuse engineered to support the real magic of the event. The true heart of the Gathering is the coming together of a community with a shared love of all things craft. It is in the small moments of exchange—shop talk, banter, and deep conversations—where lifelong bonds are forged. Ideas and techniques are shared amongst machines, over meals, and across disciplines.

Our individual journeys converge once a year at this gathering point to catch up with old friends and welcome new travelers into the fold. 

Generous support for our Scholarship Fund made it possible to invite young craftspeople who would not otherwise be able to afford to attend. The Gathering would simply not have been the same without their enthusiasm and eagerness to learn. Having the next generation in the room as equals with our community of professional artists and supporters is an essential part of our mission to support careers in craft and preserve lost craft knowledge. We sincerely appreciate your support. 

There were countless moments of connection throughout the weekend that will be lasting memories for all who participated. One unforgettable moment happened Saturday night in the Point Street Tavern. 

The band had packed up and the party was winding down to the thinning hum of conversation when Plumier intern and professional luthier Spencer Hamann broke out his violin and began to play. Before long, the band came back in, quickly unpacked their instruments, and joined in with Spencer. They played a short set of shared songs that brought all who were lingering in the vicinity of Point Street back into the Tavern and the party back into full swing for a precious moment, closing with a beautiful rendition of “Ashokan Farewell,” the perfect end to the night met with watery eyes and one final long applause. 

Thank you to all who attended the 2025 Plumier Fall Gathering—see you next year!

Sincerely,

David Lindow

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