A fire tore through the woodshop behind Bradford Woodworking in Worcester Township on January 28, 2025, destroying 45 years of tools, machinery and raw materials that furniture maker Brad Smith had built his career around. More than a year later, Smith has rebuilt his shop and been selected as one of 195 artists chosen through a competitive jury to exhibit at the 50th annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show this November.
Worcester Volunteer Fire Department crews were dispatched around 3 p.m. that day to Bradford Woodworking and found heavy smoke pouring from the large detached outbuilding Smith used as his woodshop, according to North Penn Now. Firefighters initially made interior entry but were forced to withdraw as smoke and heat conditions intensified, shifting to defensive, exterior master-stream operations, according to the Skippack Fire Company, which sent Squad 86 to supply 1,600 feet of 5-inch hose as mutual aid. Reportedly more than 100 firefighters from 10 companies assisted at the scene, with firefighters stretching four attack lines from Tanker 83 and fire and fire police personnel remaining on site for more than six hours. Worcester firefighters returned shortly after 7 a.m. the next morning to extinguish hot spots, and the Worcester Fire Department later cleaned more than 1,000 feet of hose and other equipment used in the response.
A Farm-Rooted Craft Nearly Lost
Smith and his wife, Sandy, had operated Bradford Woodworking from that workshop for 21 years, running the business together on the family farm where Smith was raised and still works. Smith developed an interest in woodworking in high school and went on to attend the School for American Craftsmen at Rochester Institute of Technology, earning his degree in woodworking and furniture design in 1980 — a program established in 1945 by craft patron Aileen Osborn Webb as the first U.S. university program dedicated entirely to professional craft education, according to Wikipedia. He and Sandy launched Bradford Woodworking later that same year, first designing, producing and marketing kitchen tools and accessories before Smith expanded into furniture in 1986.
The fire destroyed Smith's workshop, his tools and decades of collected materials, ending a hyper-local sourcing model that had relied on wood from fallen trees on the Worcester farm, area sawmills and homeowners who called the shop when large trees came down on their property, per Bradford Woodworking. That same regional-craft ethos extended to the studio's signature cast-iron tractor seat swivel stools, made through a partnership Smith struck in 2007 with an Amish foundry in Lancaster County to custom-reproduce antique 19th-century farm tool castings stamped with the studio's logo. His current furniture, which he describes as “warm contemporary,” draws directly from the farm around him and incorporates agricultural components like ax handles and pitchfork handles.
Insurance Fell Short, So the Community Stepped In
According to the fundraiser organized on his behalf, insurance did not cover the full cost of rebuilding after the fire wiped out 45 years of custom machinery, specialized tools and raw materials. A GoFundMe campaign for Smith and his family, organized by the daughter of a longtime client, surpassed its original $30,000 goal and ultimately collected $55,460 from 187 donors. Smith has credited the broader Worcester and North Penn-area community with helping him recover and continue his work, as the community provided financial contributions, meals, cleanup assistance, and replacement equipment and tools, North Penn Now reported.
The fire's toll extended beyond the Smiths. A separate GoFundMe campaign was launched in February 2025 for Colin Wurtz, a craftsman who had spent a decade at Bradford Woodworking after starting as a high school apprentice in 2015, after he lost his personal tools, inventory and primary livelihood in the blaze. Wurtz had begun designing and selling his own furniture line under Smith's mentorship before the fire hit, according to the GoFundMe campaign set up in his name.
Back in Business, Then Onto a National Stage
Bradford Woodworking was operating again by March 2026, and Smith has now been selected as one of 195 artists chosen by a competitive jury to exhibit at the 50th annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show, which runs November 6 through 8 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, with a preview gala scheduled for November 5. Visitors will be able to meet Smith, view his work and purchase pieces directly from him at the show, where participating artists compete across 13 disciplines and keep the full proceeds from their sales.
Founded in 1977 and presented by the Women's Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Craft Show Committee, the show has contributed more than $15.3 million to the museum over its history, funding educational programs, exhibitions, publications and acquisitions, according to the Northeast Times. Nancy O'Meara said the show champions artists and demonstrates that handmade work is relevant and essential.
The fire that nearly ended Smith's career was not an isolated risk within his trade. The National Fire Protection Association has found that U.S. fire departments respond to an average of 36,784 industrial and manufacturing fires each year, with shop tools and electrical distribution equipment among the leading ignition sources, and structure fires accounting for two-thirds of total property damage in such incidents. For a craftsman working out of a converted farm outbuilding in Worcester Township — an increasingly affluent Montgomery County community with a 2026 median household income estimated at $185,114 — that kind of loss could easily have been the end of the story. Instead, Smith's return to the workshop, and now to one of the country's most prestigious craft shows, has become a marker of what the surrounding community helped make possible.
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