Furniture
Chairs
I am basically a chairmaker. Before learning to make chairs, I bought old ones, found them on the street and always had many more around than I "needed". Even now, I still acquire chairs and "fix" them with rustic parts.
I make a few different kinds of Dining Chairs which are comfortable to sit in for long meals as well as pleasing to look at around the table. These dining chairs refer to both the trees and the history of furniture with legs and backs which look like tree drawings from a formal design book.
But all chairs are for more than sitting. Chairs are part of the story of life. They witness events. They become part of Memory and Family History.
So, I make chairs which tell stories. These I call Memory Chairs. to convey the explicit role of chairs in life. I appropriate flat, curved and worn objects which approximate and replace the traditional milled parts of a chair. I try to make the hidden life of the chair more evident.
Beds
When I make beds, I think of them as big chairs to sleep in. And I also think of them as room sculptures because most of waking time is spent looking at the bed.
And one thing I've learned in 15 years of making beds, A bed is not just a bed. Everybody has a dream bed. So when I make beds, I first listen to what people ask and then ask them how they "see" the bed: Dark or Light, Tall or Short, Bark or Peeled, Straight wood . or crooked wood Driftwood, Logs, Saplings. Canopy Four-poster...
Beds
I make tables in the tradition of the tinker and the "hedge carpenter". from materials on hand in generally invented designs. I use the same round mortise and tenon joint I use to make chairs. Sometimes I screw the pieces together.
Since 1989, I have worked with sculptor and cabinetmaker Robert Kalka to make dining tables.
I bring a sense of surface and form. He brings his talent with construction and sensitivity to the sculptural impact of functional work. The tables are dramatic and personal. Our favored woods are Cherry, often with the saw marks left in and American Chestnut from re-sawn barn beams. We have also used Ash, Oak, Elm and Spalted Maple.