“Upon completing the class, I got a key to the woodshop. Driving to the lakeside shop and building with my hands became my oasis,” he says.

After graduating, Garth crashed with his cousin in Park City to ski for a winter. “I grew up on the East Coast, I had never been to Utah,” he says. “I just packed up my Honda Civic and drove across the country.”

That was in 2014. He stayed.

Eventually, he heard of Chad Parkinson, owner of The Furniture Joint, and started hanging around his shop. “At first, I just bugged him to teach me something,” Garth laughs. “One day, he told me I could join him to cut down a walnut tree. A month later he said, ‘I guess you can plane the slabs.’ Then, it was, ‘I guess you can come inside the shop and help.’ About a month later, he finally said, ‘I guess I should start paying you.’”

Garth worked for Chad for years, learning everything he could.

“Chad has extremely high standards. He is the most creative designer and woodworking artist I have ever met,” says Garth. “It was a crash course. I went from hobbyist to professional in two years.”

Garth’s style is a combination of American Shaker and Danish modern, with a focus on craft.

“I build joinery that is structurally sound and will last for generations,” he says. “There’s a lot of ways to attach two pieces of wood together. I study antiques: they are strong and mechanical.

“If a tree is alive for 100 years, I seek to honor the wood through patient construction and timeless design to live an additional 100 years. Longevity is sustainability. I aspire for my pieces to weave their forms into my clients’ lives so they are fought over by grandchildren someday.”

A handmade piece of furniture carries magic. “When you move a dining table to a new house, stories and memories move with you,” he says. “The sensitivity through touch and care I put into my work creates an emotional tie that a manufactured piece of furniture just can’t recreate. It helps you feel a sense of identity and home.”

In 2017, Garth opened his own shop, Franklin Woodworking. Most of his work is commission-based. “I’ll talk to clients, understand their design aesthetic and tailor something that will fit their home perfectly,” he says. “I love the creativity and freedom to explore what inspires me.”

In addition to making furniture, including tables, chairs and built-in cabinets, Garth builds structures. He’s built many treehouses and recently made a mobile sauna that has a woodburning stove and a long landscape window. The four-person sauna is more of a moving sculpture than a building.

“You can rent it,” he says. “I simply drop it off stocked with wood and an optional cold plunge.”

Garth has also made a name for himself in the public art space. His wooden sculpture, “Hoodah,” a 15-foot-tall troll, is the mascot of Hoodahfest, an annual festival that celebrates local organizations and artists.

Garth is currently working on a 20-foot-long steel kosmoceratops sculpture named “Kosmo.” “Kosmoceratops is a dinosaur unique to Utah,” Garth says. “Because Utah has the highest density of dinosaur fossils in the world, it made sense as a symbol of home.”

Speaking of home, he and his partner, artist Anna Leigh Moore, just bought their first home in Tollgate Canyon. Together, they’re beautifying their surroundings and creating community through art.