A long long time ago in the far away land of Maine, Brad Eklund and Hazel Trinidad found themselves pursuing their education at Unity College. It was here that strengthened their shared interest in wildlife, plants, and all things encompassed in nature. In 2009, Brad earned his B.S. in Horticulture and Hazel earned her B.S. in Wildlife. They were both completely unaware at the time of where their passion for the environment would bring them.

They moved to North Carolina in 2010 where they combined their passions with a new found interest of woodworking and Entwood Crafts was born, along with their first child Tristan. This fun hobby slowly transformed into a small side business. In 2014, after welcoming to the world their second child, Lily, they made the exciting choice to turn Entwood Crafts into a full time career. They spent the years since then perfecting techniques, and building Entwood Crafts into what it is today. They began designing their own work and caught the attention of the specialty woodworking magazine, "Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts" and have since been published a number of times. They continue to be inspired by learning new techniques and creating new designs.

Intarsia...What is that?

While we make a variety of different wooden items, our specialty and main focus lies in the artform of Intarsia. Intarsia is a mosaic style of woodworking that utilizes the natural woodgrain and color, along with a variety of carving techniques, to create a picture. Many people compare it to inlay marquetry but they both have notable differences. You are not alone if that's the first time reading the word "intarsia". It was popularized many centuries ago by Italian artisans making mosaic patterns with inlaid stones. It has since migrated its way into many different mediums with wood currently being the most popular. Even still, wooden intarsia is a fairly rare form of woodworking and even rarer will you find businesses dedicated to it. 

If we make it, we design it. We do everything from concept to finished product. After drawing up a design the real fun begins. With the exception of blue and green, we rely on the natural colors of wood in our work. We regularly use over 70 species of wood with variety of grain textures and colors to get the desired effects. Finding that perfect piece of wood for a project is really exciting! Then each segment is meticulously cut on a scroll saw. Some of our work contains several hundred individual segments of wood. After everything is cut, we do a quality check to make sure everything fits nicely and to spot any defects early on. Then each segment is shaped and carved giving the design depth and an almost 3-d like appearance. Depending on the project, we add some detail textures, glue the segments together, and attach it to a reinforced backing material. We apply several coats of clear lacquer for long lasting protection and then its finally ready to display.