Lee Kalliroi Buchanan began woodworking at the age of seven in the Kids Carpentry program in her hometown of Berkeley, CA. Lee has a BFA in Art/Semiotics from Brown University (2000) where she studied painting and built sets for the campus theater. After a brief stint in scenic carpentry after college, Lee went on to work for the Exploratorium interactive science museum in San Francisco, building kinetic exhibits and cabinetry for traveling shows as well as multiple pieces for the outdoor gallery on the pier.
In 2008 Lee moved to LA where she ran the collective bespoke furniture woodshop Offerman Woodshop (OWS), while also building custom furniture for her own clients. In 2018, Lee left OWS to relaunch and run a non-profit social enterprise called Would Works that provides training and jobs in the craft of woodworking to people experiencing homelessness in LA.
Lee has taught woodworking and design at California State University at Long Beach in the School of Art, as well as at Allied Woodshop in Los Angeles, as well as for private conferences and events across the country.
Lee has written on the subject of woodworking for various publications including the book Good Clean Fun, Misadventures in Sawdust at Offerman Woodshop, Fine Woodworking Magazine and Popular Woodworking. Lee is currently working on a How-to project book on woodworking with kids with her old friend and colleague in sawdust, Nick Offerman.
Lee has two young kids who are frequent tinkerers in her home woodshop in El Cerrito, CA.
