Designing for the Repair in Year Twenty
I have a shelf in the back of my studio filled with what I call “the ghosts”—half-finished joints, botched laminations, and chair legs that were too thin to hold a…
Read more
The Final Invoice and Its Timing
I spent most of my thirties thinking that a professional business required a suite of expensive, interconnected software that felt as polished as a high-end lacquer finish. I fell for…
Read more
What I Leave With the Client
I was standing in the workshop last Tuesday, staring at a prototype chair that had just been rejected for being “too aggressive” in its silhouette. It sat there among the…
Read more
Making a Living Without Wrecking Your Back
I spent the better part of my thirties believing that if I just worked harder, I could outrun the inevitable. I treated my joints like cheap shop tools—something to be…
Read more
Fitting a Drawer by Hand
I was staring at a pile of expensive walnut scraps in my studio three years ago, wondering why the drawer I’d spent all morning assembling felt like it was fighting…
Read more
What a Rushed Week Costs the Piece
I was staring at a prototype for a walnut lounge chair last Tuesday—one of the many “failures” currently gathering dust in the corner of my studio—and I realized it was…
Read more
Working Slowly on Purpose
I spent three weeks last month staring at a single joint for a walnut sideboard, convinced I was being inefficient. My studio manager called it a waste of billable hours,…
Read more
The Material Moves Whatever You Think
I still have the prototype from 2004 sitting in the corner of my studio, a walnut tabletop that buckled so violently it looked like a frozen wave. I’d spent weeks…
Read more
A Course That Sends People Home With Something
I spent the better part of a decade watching “facilitators” drown their sessions in expensive, color-coded sticky notes and over-engineered icebreakers that felt more like hostage negotiations than creative exercises.…
Read more
Wood Does Not Negotiate
I spent most of my twenties in studios where “inspiration” was a buzzword used to justify expensive, aimless wandering. People love to romanticize the craft, claiming that what working with…
Read more