COBBLE HILL — A furniture-making workshop for creative and business-savvy students is teaching high schoolers a new craft this summer.
RAD Furniture will lead groups of students in intense week-long workshops at the Beam Center, a nonprofit learning and youth development center at 47 Bergen Street which has been hosting workshops since earlier this year.
The sessions are designed to spark “an impulse to create” in students, said Co-Founder Brian Cohen.
Ryan Anderson, who founded RAD in 2010, will instruct students on researching, designing, creating and marketing furniture to clients.
Students will design and create the product using the Beam Center’s woodshop and small welding tools, he said.
Anderson, 34, who lives in East Williamsburg with his wife Katherine Lee, will also talk about running a business including using social media as a business tool.
“There are so many different avenues you could go with,” said Anderson, who hopes that each student will be drawn to different aspects of the industry.
As a student, he recalls hearing advice from small business owners that led him to create RAD, which stands for "Ryan Anderson Designs." He hopes to have the same impact during the workshop, he said.
“That stuck with me,” said Anderson, who hopes his class will “empower students to put pen to paper.”
After moving to Brooklyn in February, Anderson is looking to introduce RAD to the borough through its shop on Bergen Street.
RAD’s workshops will run from June to September.
For more information on RAD Furniture's workshops at the Beam Center, visit this website.
