'The Blind Woodsman' — Whose Designs Wow Millions — Says 'No One Would Know' Him Without Wife

John Furniss and wife Anni

John Furniss, known on TikTok as "The Blind Woodsman," has become an inspiration to his 1.8 million followers, sharing his designs and speaking candidly about his struggles with mental health — and he couldn't have done it without his wife of seven years, Anni. 

"She has helped me reach my full potential in life," Furniss, who lost his eyesight as a teenager after a near-fatal suicide attempt, tells PEOPLE in this week's issue.

Now 41, Furniss took his first woodworking class almost 25 years ago at a vocational rehabilitation program his family enrolled him in after he "lost his way." After meeting Anni, that passion turned into a business.

"We're a good team," he says of his co-creator.

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Growing up in Colorado and then Wyoming, where his family relocated when he was 13, was challenging for Furniss. "I had always felt like I didn't fit in, but the move made my anxiety worse," he says.

On the morning of a road trip to his brother's wedding in Utah, "I just didn't want to live anymore — I was done," he says. At the age of 16, Furniss put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.

Furniss woke up in a Wyoming hospital bed with his head bandaged, confused by hallucinations of roaming his high school and washing dishes at his restaurant job. When he tried to open his eyes, everything was dark.

"I heard a doctor say, 'You are blind,' " Furniss recalls. The physician explained that the gunshot wound Furniss suffered in a suicide attempt days earlier had taken his eyesight. "The pain," says Furniss, "was inescapable."

anni furniss John Furniss

Facing his new sightless reality was traumatizing. As an adult he moved from one boarding house to the next — and developed a methamphetamine addiction, eventually dealing drugs. In the early 2000s, he hit rock bottom: a near-fatal sinus infection and a felony conviction for conspiracy to distribute marijuana, which was eventually pardoned in 2019.

"I either needed to reach out to my parents and get help," he says, "or I was going to die."

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While at the vocational program, John worked in a woodshop with a teacher who is also blind. The experience changed his life. "I found what I do best," he says. "It gave me a whole new direction."

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Furniss enrolled at the School of Piano Technology for the Blind in Washington, where he learned to fix pianos and, more importantly, met Anni, a volunteer whose paint he accidentally put his hand in.

It was Anni who, in 2016, took a photo of a tray he had made for her mother and posted it to Facebook, where people flooded the comments with the same question: Where do you sell your work? "No one would know who I was without her," says Furniss.

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The duo eventually launched a business (furnissstudios.com), with Anni painting his items, and they used TikTok to showcase their work.

Thanks to Anni's social media skills, Furniss has become a TikTok sensation, inspiring — and baffling — his followers with his "magical hands"(as one 9-year-old fan put it) and using his videos as a way to talk about mental health.

anni furniss John Furniss

For more on Furniss' story, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.

Furniss says his customers are a lifeline. "I want to thank them," he says, "for helping me live my dreams." But the person who has helped him live his dream the most, Furniss says, is his wife.

"I think he's secretly an angel visiting Earth," says Anni. Although Furniss doesn't agree, he believes there's a lesson in everything: "I'm supposed to be blind," he says, "to do what I'm supposed to do here."

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988 or visiting 988lifeline.org.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.