Today we’d like to introduce you to John Cutrone.
Thanks for sharing your story with us John. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Oh, my story is such a roundabout one, which probably comes from having such a poor sense of direction: Take me out of the South Florida grid system of north/south east/west roads and I am lost. In life, I’ve basically just followed whatever was interesting and eventually found myself here and now.
In a way, though, looking back over my shoulder, it’s obvious how all roads have led to where I am: my family owned a card shop in Boca Raton when I was a kid, and I was imprinting Christmas cards for people when I was 13––so I was setting type even as a boy. And growing up in a family like mine, where we were always celebrating something (usually with great quantities of food)… well, that definitely influenced the things I write about.
Has it been a smooth road?
Winding, yet smooth. I definitely tend toward optimism and have never doubted that things will work out just fine. That being said, I don’t want to give the impression that I am unrealistic. There are plenty of things that I do worry about, but career choices have never been one of them. I earned an MFA in the Book Arts. I think going to school for something as left field as that gives you a certain freedom: you go to learn, and you know that you are learning not because you are preparing for a job but because you love your craft. If it works out financially, that’s a bonus. If you’re prepared to focus on your craft while supplementing that practice with, say, waiting tables or being a bank teller, that provides a bit of realistic optimism. I think being confident in your abilities to make things work is an important first step.
One of my larger challenges these days, though, is finding time to take on the really big projects. Like turning the Convivio Book of Days blog into a real book. Responsibilities have a way of piling on, and I find it challenging just finding a week to myself where I can remove myself from the usual routine, focus, and just finish up that book proposal.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Convivio Bookworks – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Convivio Bookworks is a partnership between me and my husband, Seth Thompson. It’s very multi-faceted. At its heart, it is a letterpress and book arts studio focused on handmade books and prints. But stories have always been central to the press and I’d say at this point Convivio Bookworks is best known for the Convivio Book of Days blog that I write, and also the Convivio Dispatch. The Dispatch is a bit of creative nonfiction about the quirky town we live in; it goes out as an occasional plain text email. The Book of Days is more of a literary, food-focused lifestyle blog that focuses on seasonal traditions and the idea of making a ceremony of each day.
Over the years––and especially with the introduction of the blog––our online shop began selling the work of other artisans, too, especially related to seasonal traditions. Our business model revolves around the idea that it is right and good to support the artisans who have always made these traditional things. And so our Papel Picado and tin ornaments and clay Calaveras for Dia de Los Muertos are made by artisans in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Our traditional wooden Christmas pyramids and smokers and ornaments are made by artisans in Germany’s Erzgebirge Mountains. I suppose our business model might also be summed up as this: We deal with things that inspire, things that support traditional crafts folk… and things that I remember from my childhood. It’s all connected, along with the idea of helping others make a living from the things they love doing, and I love finding those connexions.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I’m going to speak to this in terms of the city we call home: Lake Worth. Seth and I have been in Lake Worth in the same home since 2000. I grew up around here with my eye on Lake Worth. I love the old houses, I love the smallness. There are some days that I never see a road larger than two lanes. And yet it’s so wonderfully diverse… all kinds of people live here with a strong sense of community and an independent feistiness, too.
That feistiness can make it difficult to get things done here… improvement projects are often met with suspicion and so bond measures to fix roads fail by 50 votes and our landmark downtown hotel remains vacant… but we make progress here slowly and thoughtfully, and perhaps that’s better in the long run. And we are a quirky town. That I love more than anything. The place is chock full of good stories and incredible history. Did you know more Finns live in Lake Worth and neighboring Lantana than anywhere else in the world save Finland? Lots of houses here have saunas in them thanks to the Finns. How weird is that?
Contact Info:
- Address: We are 99% mail order and pop-up market, so maybe best to not publish our address since it is not a physical store? But our mailing address is Convivio Bookworks / 1301 North O Street / Lake Worth, FL / 33460
- Website: www.conviviobookworks.com
- Phone: (561) 493-3190
- Email: mail@conviviobookworks.com
- Instagram: @conviviobookworks / www.instagram.com/conviviobookworks
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/conviviobookworks
- Other: blog: www.conviviobookworks.com/blog
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