Abby Mechanic - Facilities Manager, Wood, Metal, and Light Lab

Abby Mechanic is a passion­ate leader, admin­is­tra­tor, educa­tor + maker within the craft field. Mechanic received her BFA from the Maine College of Art with a concen­tra­tion in Wood­work­ing and Furni­ture Design. After grad­u­at­ing, she worked in various design studios, such as Luur Design, Nate Berkus, and Matter Prac­tice. Mechanic then spent seven years working at Parsons School of Design, where she began as a Part-Time Tech­ni­cian and later became the Asso­ciate Direc­tor of the Making Center. Her port­fo­lio covered over­see­ing all analog-making facil­i­ties on campus, includ­ing wood­work­ing, metal­work­ing, ceram­ics, sewing, textiles, light lab, and more. Other respon­si­bil­i­ties included employee hiring, onboard­ing, manage­ment, health & safety, and system devel­op­ment. Mechanic went on to work at Peters Valley School of Craft as the Educa­tion Direc­tor, over­see­ing the school’s program­ming, studio spaces, and artis­tic team. Mechanic managed a wide range of shops, includ­ing black­smithing, ceram­ics, fibers, fine metals, glass, print­mak­ing, photog­ra­phy, and wood­work­ing. She curated, planned, and executed 160+ work­shops a year with the help of a seasonal team. Since then, she has returned to Parsons School of Design and is now acting as the Facilities Manager of the Wood, Metal and Light Lab. On her own time Abby currently serves as the Board Pres­i­dent of The Furni­ture Society, where she is leading the orga­ni­za­tion through a new 5‑year strate­gic plan merging her skills in admin­is­tra­tion and furni­ture making. In addi­tion, she travels around the country teach­ing and expand­ing the field of wood­work­ing at orga­ni­za­tions like North Bennet Street School, Arrow­mont School of Craft, Charleston School of Wood­work­ing, Wendell Castle Work­shop and more!