I’ve spent most of my life with dirty hands. Construction, art school, and a good long run of farming came before woodworking for me. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how we take up space in the world, personally and as a consumer culture, and I think it comes through in my work.

I’m looking for dead or fallen trees any time I drive around our hometown of Pawcatuck/Stonington, CT with my wife Mel, and two young kids Iris and Henry. The bigger, older and uglier the better, I find the most interesting wood comes from the logs that most sawmills would reject. If I’m lucky I’ll get to saw them into big slabs and load them in the pickup while the kids wait patiently (usually). I haul them by hand and handtruck into our basement to dry them for 6 months to 2 years.

When they’re ready to be worked, the handsaws, chisels and planes do most of the work but I still have a farmer’s pragmatism; a 7” handheld power planer and a cordless drill are also staples of my toolkit. I’m not trying to be a historical re-enactor. I have found that the combination of hand tools and a minimal set of handheld power tools is the most flexible, affordable, and uncomplicated method for taking a tree and turning it into… anything.

Within this micro vertical integration, starting with a tree and ending with furniture, it is a joy to explore the beauty of trees and growth, and to honor it in every step of the creative process. Sharing those discoveries and the comfort that comes from finding your place in nature is what drives me to make my work. That and I just have too many ideas.