Makers Manual is a collaborative project between exciting makers and STORE STORE. These downloadable manuals are a practical guide to making at home for beginners and experts.

Vegetable Lathe is an introduction to using the lathe – a machine that spins a piece of wood around an axis at high speed. The user can then make cuts and incisions to create cylindrical, spherical and ellipsoid forms. In this manual the lathe will be constructed from items you can find around your kitchen and tools found in the cutlery draw. Rather than turning a piece of pine, oak or mahogany – we can turn carrots, parsnips and beetroots and the objects created could form part of a miniature table, a piece of a chess set or a beautiful baton to throw in a casserole.

This manual is created by Theo Tan; a London-based designer working in a range of materials from calico, leatherwork, precious metals and more. Much of his working process involves a deep understanding of existing craft skills to the point that he is able to misuse and re appropriate old techniques.