meet the team

Phil has been making things for as long as he can remember, starting with woodworking alongside his dad and stitching his first leather wallet at Boy Scout camp. After honing his skills in high school woodshop, he began building furniture for others in 2015, and The Sweet Tea Woodshop was born.

When the Navy took him to Rhode Island, apartment living meant leaving most of his woodworking tools behind. Leatherwork quickly filled the gap, turning an old hobby into a new craft and helping transform the Woodshop into Sweet Tea Craftworks. Today, Phil works across every craft you’ll find in the shop, from leather and wood to pottery and candles. Everything Sweet Tea Craftworks sells is crafted or designed by Phil and Kerri.

Kerri’s introduction to Sweet Tea came on her third date with Phil, when the two spent the evening building a headboard for her apartment. Seriously. She stuck around, and by 2020, the entirely self-taught maker was pushing the Woodshop beyond custom furniture and convincing Phil to give their first craft market a try. That shift helped shape what would eventually become Sweet Tea Craftworks.

Today, Kerri is the creative force constantly asking, “What if we tried this?” She works across embroidery, wood, leather, candles, and ceramics, with a particular love for slab pottery. From dreaming up new products to designing, making, merchandising, and sharing them, Kerri is usually the one nudging Sweet Tea toward whatever comes next.