My woodworking primarily focuses on utilitarian pieces, for example boxes, bowls, and peppermills. I like the idea that a user will not just admire a piece, but use it daily in their lives. A piece being used daily is always in the user's consciousness, whether by sight or by touch. What also is nice about smaller pieces is the opportunity to use a very wide range of woods and finishes.

I put the highest priority on purity of form. My work is meant to be simple, but expressive. It doesn't call attention to itself, and yet attempts to hold attention once noticed. 

Everything I make is meant to work well, and last forever. Bowls should not only be beautiful, but stable for their task. Every peppermill has had a prototype made that I’ve used hard for a long time. I’m particularly proud of the wood’s finishes (well, actually, obsessed). Most finishes are applied repeatedly over many days (sometimes weeks!), to be sure they are durable, bring out the wood’s beauty, and give the piece a wonderful feel in the hand. In fact, I love that people's first comment is often about how the wood feels!

While I’ve worked with wood all my life, the passion has really developed in the past fifteen years. We bought a house with a small, detached workshop and large storage barn. I used the small workshop to build racks for a wine cellar, and that spawned box building. I bought a small (cheap) lathe to make knobs for the boxes. It lasted a day, before I splurged for a biggie, I had so fallen in love with turning!  The old outbuildings came down a few years ago to make room for my new workshop. From September till May, I’m in my shop almost every day.