Around the autumn equinox is typically our hottest, driest time of year, with golden brown fields and chalk dry dust under the orchard trees, now barren after harvest. The tips of the redwood branches have turned an orange-y yellow, and happily soak up the sea fog of a rare night. I can feel the rains […]
Tag Archives: woodworking
Furniture for Becoming Independent
concept sketch of the Space Chair for Becoming Independent I’ve been commissioned to design tables and chairs for the youth of Becoming Independent, most of whom have developmental disabilities of varying degree. The seating structures will be used in a new playroom that doubles as a space for observation and evaluation, so the tables and […]
Old School Market Research
I’m taking a deep breath before I fly down to San Diego to dive into a couple of days of market research at the ASR (Action Sports Retailer) Conference. I will be scoping out the viability of my Deep Deck TM, an innovative, solid wood interpretation of the classic homemade, old school longboards of yore. […]
In the Studio with Donald Fortescue
Donald Fortescue with one of two identical parts of his latest sculpture, ‘Nio’. Donald Fortescue was preparing to join the last of the coopered sections of his latest sculpture yesterday afternoon when I dropped by his home-based studio in West Oakland for a chat. I arrived just in time to help him and his talented […]
Polished
polishing the Dining Commons tables at MLK Jr Middle School in Berkeley You might be surprised to find well-polished, handmade wooden furniture in a public middle school dining commons, let alone any lunch to serve upon it. You might be equally surprised that the tables, benches and stools of Martin Luther King Jr Middle School […]
Expedition Cabinet
sketch/proposal for the Expedition Cabinet I have nothing against Fine Furniture, except that I typically favor the opposite. Give me a scavenged roadside pie safe over a Biedermeier sideboard any day. It’s not that I’m into ‘outsider art’ per se, or even collecting antiques, or that I find comfort in reverse snobbery. It’s just that […]
Introducing Pappy
Pappy likes to repair things, preferably without spending money, using things diligently saved and gleaned, collected in coffee cans and baby food jars. Pappy is a uniquely American archetype, a perennially frugal character forged by hardship, perseverance and optimism. We all hopefully still have a little bit of Pappy in us. ????? ????? Between projects […]