Master of German-American furniture making, Keith Baumstark and his apprentice, son Ryan Baumstark, joined the Traditional Apprenticeship Program in 2009 with a passion for preserving and passing along their German and family heritage. Keith Baumstark is a fourth generation woodworker and furniture maker of German-American heritage who grew up in Hermann, Missouri. He informally apprenticed with his grandfather and father from childhood and, in 1986, opened his own shop. Ryan told our staff during a 2009 interview that “I spent time in my father’s shop ever since I could remember. I loved to play in the piles of sawdust . . . when I was just a toddler. At age 4, I would nail or glue scraps together to make sculptures and one-of-a-kind birdhouses.” Both noted that "wood runs in our blood.” Ryan joined the apprenticeship program to learn from his dad “in the same way that he learned from his father and grandfather.”