The Carpenter's Hands

In 1987, a young furniture maker named Tomás Herrera walked into a workshop in Oaxaca, Mexico, and apprenticed himself to master woodworker Don Refugio. For three years, Tomás watched everything — the way Don Refugio held the chisel at a slight angle, the way he tested grain direction with his thumbnail before making a cut, even the way he blew sawdust from a joint before inspecting it.…