Chad Schimmel
- Chad has been on the lathe for well over 20 years, first learning to turn in junior high school. In the last 10 years he has specialized in pen turning, resin work, and segmenting, leaving his corporate job in 2013 to sell his art full time, and in 2016 opening Turners Warehouse, a turning supply store in Gilbert, AZ.
- Chad has been featured in Pen World magazine for his watch part pens, has had several local print and tv spots, sells his pens in a local artist collective, and for multiple years has participated in the largest art festival in the western united states.
- Chad loves to teach about pen making and resin casting and loves to talk shop when he has the time, helping both new and experienced turners while continuing to grow his own skills. He has presented internationally for Record Power teaching about segmenting, and has done lots of local demos and classes. Chad also has a YouTube channel with over 30K subscribers where he posts instructional and maker videos and is excited to continue teaching and presenting in the coming year.
Carrie Calderon
Coming from a background as a professional photographer Carrie joined forces with Chad in 2015 to take photos of all his finished work. She has been along for the ride ever since and has helped to build the Turners brand since it started in 2016. Her knowledge of everything turning is top notch and she loves making custom gifts for her friends and family. In her spare time you will find her hanging with her husband and her toddler who is affectionally known around the shop as “Taco”, cause well, everyone loves tacos.
Mike
Mike is a master saxophonist and composer and brings that awesome creativity to his work at Turners. He does some of our resin casting, wood stabilizing, overall care of the store and odd jobs around the shop, and has been doing some awesome spindle work on the lathe. When he isn't at work he is going on adventures with his lovely wife and two boys, writing and composing music, and loves to get out on the golf course when he can.
Daniel
Daniel is an amazing artist and designer and has really taken to turning on the lathe, helping out with lots of creative projects at Turners including social media. He loves all things nerd, including anime, video games and creating/making in general. When he isn't working, he is hanging with his lovely wife and fur babies, planning his next creative project, camping, or shredding on his snowboard.
Charles
Charles is one of our casters, and does most of the bulk resin casting for our Top Choice pen blanks. He brings a ton of experience as both as caster and turner, and is always happy to talk shop. When he is not casting awesome blanks or turning awesome pens, he likes to travel and enjoy time with his lovely wife!
Amy
As Chads forever roommate (wife) Amy has been supporting his hobbies and the shop since its launch, and has only recently come on board to help with media and promotions as well as general shop work. She has a background in both psychology and education and as a Play Therapist she is very supportive of the therapeutic benefits of play and creativity that can go hand in hand with woodturning and other hobbies. She is a novice turner herself and loves to promote and champion others work and stories.
Dexter AKA D the shopdog
Dexter is our loyal shopdog and a good ambassador.. until he barks at the mailman lol