Building: A Carpenter’s Notes on Life & the Art of Good Work

For forty years, Mark Ellison has worked in the most beautiful homes youve never seen, specializing in rarefied, lavish, and challenging projects for the most demanding of clients. He built a staircase that the architect Santiago Calatrava called a masterpiece. He constructed the sculpted core of Sky House, whichInterior Designnamed Apartment of the Decade. Hisbuildingprojects have included the homes of David Bowie, Robin Williams, and others whose names he cannot reveal. He is regarded by many as the best carpenter in New York.

Building: A Carpenters Notes on Life & the Art of Good Worktells the story of an unconventional education and how fulfillment can be found in doing something well for decades. Ellison takes us on a tour of the lofts, penthouses, and townhomes of New Yorks elite, before theyre camera-ready. In a singular voice, he offers a window into learning to live meaningfully along the way. From staircases that would be deadly if built as designed and algae-eating snails boiled to escargot in a penthouse pond, to the deceptive complexity of minimalist design,Buildingexposes the tangled wiring, scrapped blueprints, and outlandish demands that characterize life in the high-stakes world of luxury construction.

Blending Ellisons musings on work and creativity with immersive storytelling and original sketches, photos, and illustrations,Buildingis a meditation on crafting a life worth living, and a delightful philosophical inquiry beyond the facades that we all live behind.

Hardcover, may 16th 2023