Couple creates wood burning crafts
Aiken Standard
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. —From college sweethearts to starting a business together, Tera Cafro and Theo Eghdami’s relationship to woodworking came out of a sentimental clock in the shape of the state of California.
“We met about five years ago, and so it kind of got started because we were doing long distance,” Cafro said. “I was from California, he was from Oregon… So this one summer during college, he decided to make me a clock out of this piece of wood.
“He just found it and started whittling it away and carved it into California, and he gave that to me when he got back.”
The recently engaged couple decided to start T&T Craftsmanship in October 2021.
They moved across the country to North Augusta in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and turned a woodworking hobby into a small business.
“We moved here, and we didn’t know a soul. And we both got jobs over here, and it was a really scary time but we had each other,” she said. “… So he said one day, ‘Why don’t we start a business?’ and Theo just started making anything that came to his mind.”
T&T Craftsmanship specializes in wood burning — using specific hand tools to burn designs into wood.
“I’ve always been an artist; and, basically, I wanted to start wood burning, so that is kind of the basis of our business …,” Eghdami said. “The first thing that we made was this candle box that had a bunch of trees outlining it. It was a circle, and it was really interesting. I think that is posted somewhere on the Instagram, but just kind of kept on working on a little bit of that wood burning stuff and making different things, combining the just normal woodworking with wood burning.”
Cafro has loved the response from other small businesses in North Augusta and other woodworkers.
“The small businesses in North Augusta are so engaged and supportive,” she said. “We have been working with our friends who have a small business who we met here, Candles All Day; and we have done some collabs with them and made some wooden coasters for them. So they are an example of just some small businesses in North Augusta that just support each other and build a little family here, and that has helped us transition to being in a new place.”
“The woodworking and wood burning community on social media is also very supportive,” she added. “We try to reach out to different woodworkers to get different ideas and inspiration and kind of just see what everyone else is doing but also just kind of support people.”
Eghdami and Cafro are looking forward to learning and honing his skills and continuing to grow the business online in their Etsy shop.
“It’s difficult stuff, and I’ve done it before; but there is always room to improve,” he said. “… I think each time it gets a little bit better, and I am really excited to make it so that I can get those skills down, get that style down for what I really want and make everything the best product that it can be.”
“I think this business has, honestly, made our lives kind of a 180,” Cafro said. “I’m just excited for where we are going to go, not only in terms of making things, but in terms of making things that are really meaningful to people.”
