I have been building things out of wood all my life. From tree houses and boats as a boy amid the woods of Pennsylvania, I moved on to framing houses during summers in high school and college. A degree in Mechanical Engineering (University of New Mexico, 1978) led to a short career designing wind tunnels at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA.
By 1981 the lure of making things of my own design had me back in the building business, this time on my own as a designer and builder of house additions in Palo Alto, then in Berkeley, where I moved in 1983. Because of the two-story additions I was building, I became intrigued with staircases, and began designing curved stairs in my projects. I gradually phased out housebuilding to focus on stair-building. Over a period of ten years I developed a reputation for unique staircases in the Berkeley area, and wrote a cover article for Fine Homebuilding magazine in 1991.
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My first real piece of furniture was a chest of drawers designed and built for a friend in 1990. The enjoyment of building it began my furniture career. Since moving to Bishop in 1998 to be near the Sierra Nevada, I have focused entirely on designing and building furniture. My work is contemporary, and has evolved into a style which uses an interplay of gentle curves to form elegant compositions. Using only solid wood and traditional joinery, I hope for my pieces to increase in value over the generations.
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Recognition of my furniture work has included the following:
Pieces in California Design Exhibitions, 1994 and 2004, San Francisco
Photos of pieces in Fine Woodworking magazine's Design Book Seven, 1996
Piece in Mesa Arts Center's Contemporary Craft Exhibition, Mesa, AZ, 2007
Best Fine Craft, Mammoth Lakes Labor Day Arts Festival, 2002
First Place for Art Furniture and Excellence in Design, Design in Wood Show, San Diego, 2005
Best of Show, Artwalk 2008, Thousand Oaks, CA
First Place for Contemporary Furniture, Orange County Fair, 2008
"Building Stools", article in Woodwork magazine, August 2003
"Making Curves in Furniture", article in Woodwork magazine, August 2007
"Over The Top", back cover photograph, Woodwork magazine, February 2008
"Yin, Yang, and Young" book cover photograph, 500 Cabinets, 2010.
While my work was long shown at numerous galleries throughout California, currently (2021) my pieces are available through my website and my studio in Bishop, CA.
In my work, every piece of wood is chosen for its grain and color. For example, a narrow curved leg should have grain following the curve. Wide panels, on the other hand are an opportunity, an empty canvas for figured woods.
I am not in the business of making standard-looking furniture. Designing is what drives me, and I think the ideal furniture is graceful three-dimensional assemblages that are more or less functional. Sometimes form should follow function, like a chair which must be comfortable. Other times, though, I think function can follow form, as in a graceful, flowing cabinet, in which the drawers are not necessarily level or square.