In 1942, at the age of 15, my grandfather Louis Musante (pictured above) became a journeyman's apprentice near the docks of the San Francisco Bay. Over the course of his career, he gained more knowledge of the electrical, plumbing, and woodworking trades than most men of any generation.
I am Erik Mäki - a third generation woodworker, the founder of Board and Block, and Louis Musante was my inspiration for becoming a professional contractor and craftsman. As a child growing up in San Francisco, I spent countless hours in my grandpa's home workshop; learning to cut and hammer and join wood together, using hand-powered tools of a bygone era...and enjoying every second of it.
My grandpa always used to say "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right," and I think this saying holds true more today than ever. In college I started a longboard skateboard company called Mäki Longboards in order to learn design, manufacturing, sales, and business processes first hand.
