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ināt: Crafting perfect imperfections in Montreal's New Chabanel

Furniture maker and woodworker Michaël Fiset (AKA Mike Fiz) of the workshop ināt on creativity, finding purpose, and (re)building.

J.P. Karwacki

J.P. Karwacki

January 30, 2024- Read time: 7 min
ināt: Crafting perfect imperfections in Montreal's New ChabanelPhotograph: Maya Naidu / @mayanaidu

There's a thin layer of sawdust coating every surface of the Montreal furniture maker and woodworker ināt’s workshop loft, floating on the sunlight coming in through a wall of windows that look out over the Garment District in Ahuntsic.

One of the progenitors of what's been called the 'New Chabanel', where Montreal's makers have flocked for space to create, Michaël Fiset (known to some as the BMX rider Mike Fiz) has called his studio home for half a decade now, and it shows: A wall stands lined with personal effects—a cabinet of half-drank bottles of scotch, his daughter's drawings from daycare—and hand tools upon hand tools like mallets and travishers, planes and drills, chisels and carving knives.

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