Oak Resurrectionist and Wood Artisan Jason Cohen

By Alisha Proffitt Photos by Matt Johnson

In Kentucky, oak trees die three times. First, when they’re felled. Second, when they are charred and bent into a bourbon barrel. And finally, when those barrels are emptied, drained of their spirit, rolled out of the rickhouse, and declared “spent.” For most, the story ends there. In the land of bourbon country, wood artisan Jason Cohen has found a way to make the state’s most famous export speak without a drop of liquor. His medium is not the amber spirit itself but the weathered barrels that once held it. To most people, a spent barrel is nothing more than scrap. To Cohen, it’s a pile of potential waiting to be transformed. 

In his Louisville studio, those castoffs become gorgeous works of art and furniture pieces. But Cohen’s work doesn’t emerge from privilege or predictability. In 1988, a car accident stole the use of his left hand - his dominant, most trusted one. “I was left-handed, now I’m right-handed. My brain was all over the place, I needed something to focus. For whatever reason the art teacher suggested drawing with my right hand. So I started drawing with my right hand and it just led to starting to tinker with stuff,” says Cohen. “It was antiques at first. And then I realized you didn’t need to have two hands to do things, because there were tools. So, I just started realizing that was the direction I liked and it just made me feel kind of whole again, I guess.” For many, that would have meant the end of any career in craft. But Cohen rewrote the script with his other hand, literally teaching himself to make again. 

Which is why the bourbon barrel makes such sense as his current chosen partner. Like him, it was forced to change. Cohen refuses to let material or circumstance dictate worth. A barrel that once held bourbon has not outlived its purpose; it has simply evolved to another. A craftsman who loses his hand has not lost his path; he has carved a new one. Reinvention is always possible. 

In his 30 year career, over the last two decades, Cohen has moved from salvaging barn wood and dumpster finds to creating high-end furniture, interiors, and installations. His work has appeared everywhere from local restaurants, homes, bars and hotels to the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. In an era where mass production smooths everything into sameness, Cohen’s creations stand apart. They insist on texture and narrative, something that no machine could replicate. 

Louisville has no shortage of artists inspired by bourbon, but Jason Cohen’s work is unique for both its scale and its range. “Right now, I’m just making a lot of anything. I don’t say ‘no’ to anything,” he says, and that openness has kept him constantly in motion. 

Recently, he completed a two-year project for Hotel Bourré Bonne: a 60-foot-long, 12-foot-wide sculpture made entirely from barrel staves. To bring it to life, Cohen used 800 staves, drilled 3,300 holes in each stave, and welded 500 feet of metal for the frame. The finished artwork now stretches across the hotel’s lobby ceiling.

He built the new bar for Uncle Boujee’s in Paristown, where Secrets of Bluegrass Chefs is filmed. It is a custom countertop commissioned by the owner of Louisville Stoneware, who challenged him to create an end-grain-style surface out of staves. That piece required 1,500 staves, each one steamed, straightened, glued, cut, and reassembled before finally forming a ten-foot counter.

Cohen’s workshop, stacked floor to ceiling with barrels, is where this reinvention begins. His process involves carefully choosing pieces for color and patina, scraping away char, and sealing the wood. He often looks to Japanese design for inspiration, particularly the work of George Katsutoshi Nakashima. “Simple lines, that’s kind of what I go after. Japanese contemporary designs,” Cohen explains.

Now working with Pappy & Co., Cohen is preparing for Bourbon & Beyond and the busy holiday season. “It’s going to be a lot of fun these next couple months, for Pappy Co.,” he says. And with each project, Jason Cohen continues to use bourbon’s leftovers to make something unforgettable out of what was almost forgotten. 

Endings can be openings. Damage can be design. Nothing is finished until we decide it is.