Working up a dust storm in my new shop!

I'm so excited to be back in the shop again! I'm crafting a dining room table (sketch right) with a big nod to Piet Mondrian. This table is made mostly from previously used lumber . . . the top is made from 4 x 4 floor beams that I took out of my house and the legs are made from glu-lam beams that were removed from a clients home. The slab is 2" thick, 86" long and 41-1/4" wide. This beauty will seat 8. The clean straight lines of the slab are such a contrast to the vintage lumber I began working with.

Originally I was going to make a workbench top out of the floor beams and then I started milling them up and saw the grain was so beautiful and tight I decided to go a bit more formal with it. When its finished it will have a warm and inviting, comfortable yet stylish look and feel to set the stage for the right dining room! Check back for more updates soon!

At the other end of the shop I'm making a very sexy jewelry box made from a discarded piece of fir that was just too high maintenance for the skilled craftsman that gave it to me. It's wild and crazy grain pattern has made a simple jewelry box pop off the desk top. It should be approaching the finishing stages by the end of the week so check back soon to see what happened . . . I have a great set of legs in mind for this one!


I'm working hard setting up my new shop and structuring my business to suit my new city, Portland, Oregon. I'm working on my own line of woodworks such as entry tables, coffee tables, computer stands (for traveling laptops), altars, and the list goes on and on . . .


My latest project is an opportunity for you dreamers to come and spend a week with me in my shop and learn the basics of woodworking, or build upon your skill set. We will take on tangible  projects that you can take away with you at the end of the week. Why keep the idea of working with your hands in a far off fantasy land? Why not take the plunge and learn how to create simple elegance through wood!  I already have several people interested in this concept: "vacation with me and become a woodworker". If you are interested, email me and I will send you information about this great opportunity!


The building I'm in has many artisans specializing in varying materials from glass, metal, ceramics, stone, wood, silk screening, and costume design. It's wonderful to be working in my shop and hear my busy neighbors grinding metal, welding,sawing or banging away at their latest project. Even when it's quiet there's always something happening!


Back to work . . . be sure to smile today, I know I am!

Launching the Tünr Dresser

9/27/11

My client, Jeffrey, and I imagined, designed and built the first point of purchase (pop) product display unit for tünr last summer. Tünr was the imagination of my brother Jeffrey coming to life as he dreamed, planned, proposed, organized and made crucial decisions. He had this idea; “Fine Tune Your Feet”. This is what he called tünr the sock and lace company that is now launched on the Internet and in street boutiques across the country.

He approached me about designing and building tünr’s product display units. He thought of his product as the ‘tie and cufflinks’ of the sneaker world. He wanted wood. He wanted inlay, but could he afford it? He thought the tünr dresser would set off his product and set the tone for the concept he wanted to sell. We loved it, we thought the boutiques would love it but when he hit the streets with the idea of it the stores were afraid it would be too big. It’s 18” deep, 38 -1/2” wide and 31”/41” tall at the back. So I finished the dresser and went on to the next pop display idea, the tünr tower. Meanwhile the dresser sat in my show room and it’s figured maple shimmered in my eye for the past year. I fell in love. This dresser is quite beautiful as well as useful. I stored all kinds of tünr parts and pieces in it. I couldn’t believe that the shops didn’t want it! And after a year (mind you he was plenty busy with selling the product) he finally found Community 54 in NYC, NY to take her on! They are just what we envisioned, a small boutique in a line of downtown shops. They sell men’s accessories like hats, sunglasses, t-shirts and now tünr socks and laces.

Those of us who build are usually so excited to get our work out into the world that we rarely speak or acknowledge the other feelings we may have of letting go of a piece. I often experience a loss when I ship off one of my pieces of furniture. A piece of me goes with it. I feel even more of a loss with this one. I thought that after a year I might not care so much, I might be happy to get it out of my space, I might be bored of it or maybe I’ll start picking apart the design and my satisfaction might wane. Of course I did do a bit of critiquing but mostly I just fell in love with it. I learned that it was an excellent design. I found validation; the things I say about surrounding yourself with beauty are indeed true (read my previous posts and you'll get the info). Every time I entered the room with this dresser my spirit was impacted in a surprisingly positive way. I could feel it in my whole body. The tünr dresser represents careful design, thoughtful work, usefulness, durability, fun, excitement, experimentation and much more. For me, it tells a touching story because my brother and I arrived at the design together long distance. I recall many exciting conversations about it. We sent each other sketches, size proposals and product details, material experiments and ideas, ideas, ideas. Again, what I say about commissioning a piece of furniture is true. A story is created through this process and it stays with the piece. And what I discovered to be an extra bonus is that the beauty and usefulness of the piece enrich the story. Like a well-used guitar, the furniture matures and the beauty expands.

I might feel sad to let go of the tünr dresser, with it’s sapelé ‘waterfalling’ veneer and wengé trim, and figured maple dovetailed drawers displaying the special soft close feature . . . the perfectly laid out and executed “tünr” inlay across the top of the dresser and those hand made pulls made with all three woods. But I have to say that I have learned a great deal living with that piece of furniture. My life is better for it. I hope that the fine young men at Community 54 will also be so blessed and maybe even the many who visit their store. Of course I also hope that they sell the tünr socks and laces like crazy and prove that this indeed is the right pop for tünr! As for me, now I have a nice space in my showroom for that buffet cabinet I've been wanting to build.

The Trickle Outward Effect (or TOE)

On my walk this morning I paused to admire the Willamette River. It is wide and this morning it was quiet, peaceful and full. As always it was flowing past me, underneath my footbridge.  The body split apart and came back together again with grace and ease. After admiring it’s awesome beauty I was reminded of my work and the feeling of running in place. On the surface the river looks so peaceful so laid back like nothing is really going on. It’s so full that rapids aren’t even showing where they usually highlight the rocky substrate. But I know this river. This river has a powerful underbelly. The current that lies beneath is hard at work busily making smooth the rocks that nest on its great gut. It seems so much like my own work. I work and work and sometimes it doesn’t look like anything is being done. But I know what is going on even if only on the inside. I’m still working on the house to sell and yes, I’m almost finished. My own work is on hold but in the background I am working on it. I am thinking up new things to make. I am solving design issues. I am discovering materials in my mind for a couch I will build in my new shop. I am visualizing production, success and a feeling of happiness that comes with seeing my imagination take shape in the real world.

This river doesn’t really have an end. It rushes on and gracefully flows and finally ends up joining another river, which ends up joining the sea. Our work leaves our hands and enters the world where it mingles with our community. It inspires others in ways that we might never know. Those inspirations have a trickle outward effect that I hope never truly end but merge with the world as they evolve and spread sparks of new visions.

Carry on!

The times when we can’t do our work . . .

Our family is moving to Portland this summer, which means we are selling our home and shop. I have been pulled off my woodworking path to work on the house so that we can compete in this terrible real-estate market. At first it seemed like things would be rather simple and cosmetic but very shortly into it I discovered that raccoons had destroyed the crawlspace and that we were getting water under the house when the water table rose. I began systematically eliminating the water by diverting the downspouts to the street (I discovered they had been dumping into the ground right at the foundation because the pipes they went into were broken) and I ultimately installed a sump-pump. I cleaned up the crawlspace (no basements here) and every day I went under the house I appreciated my shop and my workbench even more. Since then I have replaced the floors and installed new doors, taken out old wallpaper that’s been hanging around for 50 years, put in proper baseboards and now I’m painting. While it is vey satisfying to finally have the work done on the house that we envisioned when we bought it, I miss my shop and I miss woodworking something fierce.

Yesterday as I was painting I came to a wall where I had installed two beautiful coat racks. I made them out of scraps of Jatoba and Wengé. They are so rich in color and more beautiful and well made than anything in that room. I couldn’t just paint the wall off white. So I consulted with our in house artist, Megan, and we chose a rich color to accent the racks. This is something that I hadn’t fully put together yet. When you surround yourself with beautiful woods skillfully designed and built cabinets, furniture and more, you will naturally want to extend their vibrancy into other aspects of your home. I think this is further evidence that our surroundings have a profound effect on our spirit, which in turn supports our ability to live and work creatively. 

Design is Exciting!

What is successful Design in furniture?
Successful design is functional and visually pleasing. The challenge is to arrive at a design that meets both of these qualities with equal vivaciousness. When we begin to learn woodworking we find that there are many, many rules and no experience to know when to use a rule and when to let go of it. I believe woodworking is very much like the martial arts.  It is discipline and focus and being in tune with your senses, your feelings and the material that you are working with.  Sometimes we just know we should wait to make that cut or start that glue-up and other times we know that everything is in alignment and there is no time to waste. It is a very personal process. Design is much the same. We struggle with the radius of an arc, the heaviness of a line, the proportions of a cabinet all related to the wood we are using and perhaps the final placement of the piece. We can learn the rules but then the rules need to be filtered through each unique maker to apply and test our attempts at successful design.

Design is exciting!
It can be a lot of fun to design your next desk or chair or armoire. Even more exciting to choose the wood. What woodworker doesn't like to go look at your local hardwood supplier and see what they might have today? It's like treasure hunting. And, if you happen to know when they get shipments and when those shipments will hit the showroom floor you just may find some very special pieces. That's one of the troubles that I run into . . . I may find another piece of furniture in the wood as well as the wood for my current project!  I am always having to translate as I look through the stacks of lumber, what will it look like smooth and shaped and how will the finish effect the color and the grain? How will these details effect the weight of the lines? I am constantly asking these questions as I am building and moving from step to step.

Speaking of moving from step to step . . .
At some point we end up in the shop, with our wood prepared and ready to make our first cuts. Yikes! Wherever the point along the way is for you, there is often a place where we get stuck. We are afraid we won't find the right angle, or make the hole in just the right place. We don't have any more veneer that matches so the glue-up has to succeed.  It can be quite terrifying. I once worked with an excellent woodworker who said he never does anything too complex first thing in the morning or at the end of the day. Often I find myself remembering his words when I am questioning what I am about to do. One time in particular, I decided I should wait. I am so glad I did because as I set up for the next day another idea came to me, I immediately implemented it and the results were absolutely perfect! Whew! But it's important to know the difference between the fear of proceeding and taking risks and when to wait because you still need information. One absolute in this work is that we all make mistakes no matter how thoughtful we are. How we resolve those mistakes will show our creativity, ingenuity, and willingness to accept responsibility for our work. After you've thrown your fit, you just may make a piece that is better than what you originally thought of.

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Unraveling My Design Process

I am working on a project which involves teaching design. In doing so I am observing what I do on a microscopic level so that I might be able to convey this to others. I'm noticing that I meld many aspects of myself as I work. I can easily go back 30 years to formulate a design and even decide how it will be crafted.  I may not recall the name of a song but I do remember what a finish looked like on a table I saw five years ago, how the pieces of veneer were laid out, the edging detail, the shape and proportion of the table and how it all felt. One of the most important aspects of designing is noticing our surroundings in great detail and being able to use those gems to help us in solving the questions in new design.
Here's an example of a recent gem I found in a B&B in Portland Oregon:

This carving detail has such beautiful flowing lines it catches your eye as soon as you enter the room!

I was asked to submit a design and bid for a job to build a lazy susan. My very first response was to not make it a circle. I have a natural inclination to make things more difficult than they need to be . . . or perhaps I don't mind asking the question even if it seems ridiculous. Yes, I believe to design well you must ask what feels like an endless amount of questions. Often, in our culture of know it all's, we don't like to ask too many questions. But inside of the design process, your piece will emerge as you define your answers one by one. Knowing what questions to ask, which ones are easy to solve (like the lazy susan really needs to be a circle . . . or it's going to cause all sorts of problems functionally) and which ones to go over and over to find just the right solution is something that takes a lot of repetition, guts and endless amounts of hope.

I seem to be on a personal quest to add more beauty to the world. I am reacting to the world around me that seems to be blatantly disregarding the visual environment. Here's a quote from a website that I visited recently "we believe in the power of independence, the power of creation, the power of handmade to change the world. we believe that mass-production and rampant consumerism have created a culture that is hungry for “more” & “cheap” – we believe that handmade can change that, reconnect us with our fellow (wo)man and put life back into a bit of perspective."  I do think they're on to something. We've got a lot of work to do! Let's get to it!