How to Build Impossible Things

byMark Ellison, Paul Bellantoni (Read by)

Lessons in Life and Carpentry

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Over the past forty years, Mark Ellison has designed and constructed some of the most rarefied spaces in Manhattan. He built a staircase that the famed architect, Santiago Calatrava, called a 'masterpiece', worked on the iconic Sky House, and on the homes of David Bowie and Robin Williams. He is known, to some, as 'the man who is asked to build impossible things', but is regarded by many as the best carpenter in New York.

How To Build Impossible Things is a beautifully crafted collation of stories about practice, competence and failure, all filtered through the lens of New York architecture and affluence. These tales are at once a window onto a world most never see - the lofts and penthouses and town homes before they're camera-ready, the messy wiring and pipes behind the pristine walls and cabinets and fixtures - and a reminder that glamour, luxury and refinement are products of a flawed, human process, of missed deadlines, overrun budgets, heated tantrums and scrapped blueprints.

Ellison deftly leads us through the profession he has spent a lifetime mastering, and along the way, captures the endless challenges and rewards of honing one's craft.

Like sitting in a room with Mark and hearing the best stories in the world, wound up with wisdom, craft, and hard-won philosophy

Burkhard Bilger, The New Yorker

About Mark Ellison

Mark Ellison is regarded by many as the best carpenter in New York. A man with an affinity for challenging work, he has designed and constructed some of New York's most elaborate and expensive homes, and been profiled in the New Yorker. But, as a native of the old steel town Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, his route into the building trade and the mastery of a craft was unexpected, moving from construction labourer to helper and finally to carpenter. Now, at the age of sixty, he has written his first book.
Details
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • ISBN: 9781804945667
  • Length: 562 minutes
  • Price: £14.00
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