Meet the Maker

Toryn Black is a fine woodworker based in Southern Appalachia. She is a lifelong seeker dedicated to understanding herself, the world, and the people around her. This led her to a fulfilling twenty-year career as a clinical social worker.

In 2018, the call of these wise old mountains, a place of comfort and beauty she knew from her early life, called her back. The shift from an urban pace, living with the trees, and the slowing down in the pandemic years gave her the space to rediscover an intense longing for creativity and making that she had long ignored.

Coming from a long line of craftspeople, artists, and makers, Toryn felt the pull to explore these practices and traditions. In 2022, she began the Professional Crafts Program at Haywood Community College, taking up her place in the lineage of artisans.