My career as a reluctant general contractor was very helpful to not only earn a living, but also to create a knowledge base that I use on a daily basis to allow the manifestation of my artwork. I have always had a creative instinct and did manage to incorporate some of that in my former career, albeit in a very limited way. I did a large variety of the construction trades and was sometimes able to incorporate artistic woodworking in the projects. It’s only recently that I have retired from contracting and built a large dedicated shop in which to create. In the past I have made do with poor quality tools, challenging environments and a general lack of time.
I have invested in this shop and some specific tools in order follow my passion which is to showcase the beauty in wood. Most of my work is commissioned larger projects such as doors, cabinets, tables, desks, etc. and art installations, but I also enjoy creating smaller one off pieces such as small side tables, coffee tables, etc. I like to mix styles and use natural edges as well as clean modern lines often in the same piece. My priority in these creations is to let the wood “speak” to me. I try to showcase the natural inherent beauty instead of ‘disecting’ pieces and putting them back together without looking at the whole picture. I have no desire to be a production shop and instead focus on unique creations. Most of my pieces come from locally sustainably sourced trees such as walnut, madrone, redwood, olive and manzanita. Most are salvaged and would otherwise be in a landfill somewhere. I normally avoid beautiful exotic tropical woods since it can be difficult to prove that they were sustainably sourced.
