The 2026 Fall Gathering will be held Friday October 23 to Sunday October 25 in Saltsburg, PA.
Like last year, our inaugural Fall Gathering in our new home, Saltsburg will truly play host to our community. The event programing will be split between our workshop in the old 1840’s McIlwain warehouse and the 1920’s gymnatorium at the Salt Center up the hill. Dinner Friday and Saturday will be at the Point Street Tavern, located directly across the street from our shop in what was a 1930’s soda fountain. The eclectic history and community of Saltsburg has proven to be the perfect setting for a meeting of an equally eclectic group of craftspeople, enthusiasts, and supporters.
The formal program this year includes another incredible lineup of guest speakers and demonstrators.
Phil Poirier
The great Phil Poirier is returning to present again! If you are new to our community, Phil is a jeweler and goldsmith by trade, as well as an accomplished toolmaker and complex turner. He combines and engineer’s approach to problem solving with the aesthetic sense of an artist.
Phil has made a career of innovation in all of his varied endeavors, and he is extremely generous with his hard earned knowledge.
Kate Wolf
Kate Wolf is a jeweler, craft educator, and toolmaker. She has used her experience in jewelry and model making industries to develop new techniques and tools that reimagine what can be done at a typical jeweler’s bench. She has mastered, innovated, and championed traditional wax carving in an industry that has come to rely too heavily on CAD and risks losing these skillsets.
Fred Armbruster
Fred Armbruster is a man who needs no introduction in the complex turning community. Alongside a successful career as an ophthalmologists, Fred has pursued complex turning, machining, and woodworking at the highest level. There are none better versed in the history and machines of complex turning—from restoring and using every permeation of historic machines, to designing and making his own line of rose engines of extreme beauty and quality.
William Robertson
William Robertson is master miniaturist who has been making museum quality pieces for over 40 years. His execution of scale and attention to detail astonish the mind. Bill is also a tool historian and collector with a deep knowledge and reverence for historic craft. He often combines these two passions into perfect scale replicas of historic hand tools and machines.
Allison Moriarty
Allison Moriarty is an independent watchmaker from County Clare, Ireland. She specializes in opaque enamel dials, whose wide range of brilliant colors compose a standout range of bespoke watches. Allison’s personal story of launching her own watch company while battling health challenges is as inspiring as her work.
Hugo Kohl
Hugo Kohl is a jeweler who’s work has a deep, direct connection with the history of American industry. Hugo has saved thousands of hand engraved hobs and dies from the scrapper and incorporates them into his own line of fine jewelry. He uses some of the same machines that built the American jewelry industry and have largely been forgotten today. The result of this care and respect for historic craft is beautiful, timeless work.
We will be sending out emails properly introducing these Featured Artists in the coming weeks.
There will also be additional presentations from members of the Plumier team and community.
While the formal program promises to be engaging and informative, anyone who has been to our Fall Gathering will agree that the true magic of the event is in the informal exchanges of ideas, inspiration, and enthusiasm between a group devoted to craft. The Plumier foundation is positioned at a crossroads of craft disciplines and the Fall Gathering is the biggest meeting of the year of travelers on these varied roads of craft. It is in this way that we are all active participants, and why we named it the “Gathering.”
The program will begin Friday morning at 9 and conclude Sunday at noon.
Tickets for the weekend are $650 for members and $700 for nonmembers. Plus-one tickets are $150. This will include lunch and dinner on Friday and Saturday. To register, please email Jackie at jackie@plumier.org. Space is limited, reserve your spot in the Fall Gathering today!
There is a limited block of discounted rooms available at the Hampton Inn & Suites Blairsville from Thursday October 21 to Monday October 26, starting at $150 a night. Book today through the link provided to secure this discounted rate, especially if you plan on staying for the all five nights. These rooms will be filled!
Consider helping a young craftsperson attend the Fall Gathering by contributing to our Scholarship Fund.
We look forward to seeing you in October!
