Meet Kyle Hamon | Fine Woodworker & Founder of Peacekeeper Projects

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kyle Hamon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kyle, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Peacekeeper Projects didn’t really start out intending to be a business. Woodworking began as a covid-born hobby – starting with a platform bed and drawer camping set up for the back of my 99’ Ranger. But the satisfaction and immense joy I experienced during that build was unlike anything I’d experienced from any other creative pursuit and it was through that realization that I continued to prioritize and pursue the craft.

Over time, projects became more ambitious, involving more experimentation and constant learning through trial and error. Still today I am mostly self-taught and enjoy the challenges and creative approaches and maneuvering that come with figuring things out on my own.

I started an instagram under the name Peacekeeper Projects as a means to showcase the diverse nature of my work, and soon after I started uploading some photos, people started reaching out to me for commissions. Even then the intention wasn’t necessarily business minded as much as it was community oriented. I would trade artists furniture I made for a painting, or art frames for prints, bowls for ceramics. The people kept reaching out organically and I really liked that.

Early on I made a couple of small runs of cutting boards (as any novice woodworker does) but it really wasn’t until I started the “100 Bowls” project – a self-imposed challenge to make 100 unique wooden bowls in a year – that I really started feeling good about putting up my work for sale, realizing that creativity and commerce didn’t have to be at odds with one another and I could continue to work in a way that at its core, was still purely about experimentation, and deepening my knowledge of my tools, different wood species, and their properties.

I am currently about halfway through that project and towards the end of last year, I was able to start selling bowls out of their first physical retail space at Dada Market in Echo Park. Since then, I’ve been working on inventory for two more retail spaces in the city and would love to expand that to stores out of state. For now, bowls are still available through my instagram and website for those not located in Los Angeles.

I’m excited by the ways in which Peacekeeper Projects can expand as a business, but it is important to me that I do so within the values that I hold myself accountable to and that the pursuit of financial growth doesn’t compromise that feeling of joy that still comes with each piece I make.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am someone that values integrity a lot, and I’d like to think that that translates to my work. It helps me stay honest when thinking about a design and not fall prey to the newest seasonal trend. I feel that integrity is authenticity and there is longevity in that. I’ve found I really enjoy working with natural materials as it fosters a relationship that forces me to pay attention to what I’m doing and respect the material that I’m working with. It feels really special to me to finish a wooden object that I have engaged in this relationship with, and have it exist and develop a connection with whomever it was made for.

It makes me sad to think that we as people are slowly losing our heirlooms. In our current Capitalistic society, few and far between are objects being made to withstand generational use and are instead discarded upon inevitable malfunction and repurchased for cheap. It’s a goal of mine to craft objects that your grandchildren can give to their kids someday.

Peacekeeper Projects will always at it’s core be a means to house the ever evolving interests I am currently working on. For the better part of 6 months, that interest has been wood-turning and bowl making. Exploring all the ways I can create shapes and forms with the lathe, how sharpening my chisels to different bevels can change the cutting experience, how different woods can feel, react, and even smell while working them.

While it has been an exciting endeavor, the “100 Bowls” project has also been an exercise in patience and discipline. I constantly have to shelve ideas of new designs I want to make, and producing 100 of anything can become, at times, repetitive and uninspiring. Things don’t always go the way you intend which can get frustrating – which from a woodworking perspective, is a dangerous place to work from. But even the frustrations and unforeseen roadblocks are an inherent part of the process – and overcoming them fills me with an abundance of pride, creative energy and satisfaction.

For the most part my practice is quite meditative and mentally and spiritually fulfilling. As soon as I step into my shop, my mind is cleared of all the usual clutter and I’m forced to be in the moment with what I’m feeling and what I’m working on – It’s from this space that I come to understand myself better and I try to equate the lessons I learn in the shop to all aspects of my life.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m a big breakfast guy with a proclivity for diners, so that being said I’d probably start off going to Olympic Cafe aka House of Breakfast in Mid-City – a small hole-in-the-wall Japanese American diner that has been there since the 70’s, seats all of maybe 20-something people and has, what I believe, are the best pancakes in all of Los Angeles. Other good options for morning eats would be Nick’s cafe in Chinatown, Reyn Cafe in Pasadena and Figaro Bistro in East Hollywood.

In the afternoon is when you’d usually find me working away in my woodshop but if I’m entertaining, I’d recommend grabbing some fish tacos from Tacos Delta, a bottle of something cold, and having a hang in Silverlake Meadows park – a large, albeit, somewhat patchy plot of grass next to the neighborhood’s reservoir that hosts a wide variety of people and is probably one of LA’s few park destinations that feel akin to the type of outdoorsy social gatherings you’d find in more park-oriented cities like San Francisco or New York.

A dip into a spa is also a nice choice.. Always a fan of the ever popular Korean “Wi Spa”, but if you are willing to shell out some extra bucks for a smaller, more intimate, beautifully-tiled venue, Russian-owned “City Spa” in Mid-City is also a very good choice. And if breakfast is wearing off, each has a kitchen serving delicious food native to its country of origin.

I’m pretty big on playing chess, and one of my favorite places to do that is at El Prado in Echo Park right around 5 o’clock while the sun is still out and the sidewalk is bustling, and before the place gets overwhelmingly busy. Their outdoor tables have chess boards embedded into them and in exchange for a driver’s license and an open tab you can get chess pieces, a glass of wine and enjoy a cigarette over a friendly game.

There are plenty of places to grab dinner. Really too many to hone in on just a few but you’d be remiss to come to LA and not enjoy any of the street food that we are so fortunate to have. I’m partial to the suadero mulitas at Taco Zone myself.

If we’re lucky, timing would line up for us to enjoy one of MackandGold’s monthly live Jazz nights, and if we have time left over, hit “Green Room” in the Glendale area for some pool and reasonably priced pitchers.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There’s a small but mighty group of people I owe thanks to for furthering me in the field of woodworking, and the first is my friend and early mentor, William Hynes. I met William after answering a Craigslist ad for an older Bosch router he was selling. When I went to pick it up, we ended up talking for what must have been an hour and a half, and we made sure to stay in touch afterwards. I helped him with a few fabrication jobs here and there, and temporarily shared his shop space for some of my personal projects.

Having worked as a carpenter in Los Angeles since the early ‘80s, William was always there to advise me whenever I found myself stuck. More than that, he helped broaden how I think about design and craftsmanship itself.

Another pillar of my growth has been my indoctrination into the Glendale Woodturners Guild — an organization I’m still a proud member of today. The GWG is a group of passionate woodturners who meet once a month at the American Legion Hall in La Crescenta to talk turning and share techniques, ideas, and current projects.

Bill Loitz, one of the group’s presidents, has been instrumental in expanding my skill set and pushing my practice forward. Always generous with his time, Bill continues to share, hands-on, the tips and tricks he’s gathered over a lifetime of working with wood. It’s tremendously inspiring that, despite having a good four or five decades on me, he’s never stopped learning or teaching himself new skills. I aim to follow in those footsteps.

It’s been my observation that, at least in this country, we far too often treat our elders with irreverence and disdain — when it’s so obvious we should be taking the time to listen and learn from them. I’m beyond grateful to have been welcomed into this selfless group of people who share a simple, common joy and come together each month to pass that love along to one another. Anybody who wishes to become a member of the group or at least come to a meeting is more than welcome to reach out to me for more info.

Lastly it goes without saying it would be tremendously harder to keep doing what I do if not for the support of my family, friends and loved ones. Their encouragement helps me see a way forward when I might otherwise feel stuck and I am forever grateful for them.

Website: https://peacekeeperprojects.com/

Instagram: @peacekeeper.projects

Image Credits
Studio photos by Claire Preston
Bowl photos by Kyle Hamon