Coming in 2027: A New Woodworking School in Covington

Thanks to some tectonic shifts in our business at Lost Art Press, it looks like we will have a new woodworking school in Covington, Kentucky, that is literally in our back yard.

Last year we had to stop holding classes in our Willard Street workshop after our insurance carrier dumped us (it’s a long tale that does *not* involve anyone getting hurt. Basically, when you live above your business, things get weird).

In June, our Covington warehouse hit its maximum capacity while we had more than a dozen double-stacked pallets of books on the way. So we moved our warehouse operations a mile away to a building that was purpose-built for order fulfillment with a loading dock, a huge roll-up door and insane room for growth. We signed a seven-year lease.

Moving our warehouse then left us with three floors of open space in downtown Covington at 407 Madison Ave., which is where we run our retail storefront.

As luck would have it, two of our favorite woodworkers were interested in opening an independent school. So unless our Covington building gets hit with a meteorite, it looks like their school will occupy the warehouse space attached to our storefront.

The school will be an independent business, but it will be closely aligned with Lost Art Press. Megan and I will teach there, as will a whole host of great instructors.

And our storefront and as-yet-to-be-named school will share space and facilities. Visitors to the storefront will see the school in action. Students who need a book or a tool can saunter a few steps to get what they need.

Students loved the urban atmosphere in Covington, and this new school will preserve that. The new school is even closer to Covington’s hotel district and is surrounded by hundreds of restaurants, bars, coffee shops, bookstores and places to buy freeze-dried ducklings.

Megan and I are planning new classes for 2027 at the school – classes we have never taught before. It’s all quite nice that this is working out for everyone: students, the owners of the new school and Lost Art Press. (And for Covington, too. The owners of Larry’s say they really miss all you guys, especially Scott.)

If all goes to plan, classes will begin in January 2027. We will let you know when the first class list will be released.

— Christopher Schwarz