The Ecstasy of Possibility: An Interview with Louis Mackall

You wouldn’t expect a master architect from Yale with more than two decades of experience and an almost religious reverence for wood to name his tools. But, then again, Louis Mackall, co-founder of Breakfast Woodworks in Guilford, doesn't work with your common variety shop equipment. In this interview with FineHomebuilding.com, Mackall introduces Madame Busellato and Arnold, two highly skilled robots that excel at CNC carving and transform his dreams, and the dreams or his clients, into reality.

What is your approach to cabinetmaking? What do you do first?

LM: I am an architect first, then a woodworker. So the first thing I do is determine whether what I am about to build has more value than the material I am about to cut up into pieces, or otherwise remove from the ecstasy of possibility. This thinking concentrates as I get closer to the saw, or plane, or drill press, etc.

Who inspires you?
 
LM: When I am in despair, as happens frequently at the beginning of a project, I think of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. He could make something terrific out of nothing.

Do you have any signature design elements, things that really identify a piece as one only you could’ve made?

LM: I like curves. Always have. That and pieces. But, I never think about my "signature elements.” That is for historians, or others who reflect on these things.

What tricks do you use for customization?

LM: Tricks. . .I wish I had a few, besides of course paying attention.

If you had to pick a first love, would it be designing or building the cabinets?

LM: It's best that these two are inseparable. But if I had to pick one, it's design. Good design is way more difficult than good workmanship.

Do you have a favorite project? Material? Tool?

LM: Project? I have no favorite projects; I like 'em all. I love wood, of course. It's a miracle. And we are currently having a love affair with Madame Busellato, our 2.1/2 Axis CNC. And she is hot.

We’ve also got a Kuka routing robot we’ve affectionately named Arnold (pronounced Ahhnuld). You can watch a video of Arnold milling out a door casing in our shop.

To learn more about Louis's work, read Signature Details for Kitchen Cabinets in the August/September 2007 issue of Fine Homebuilding.