Coffee Table Series

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The first in a series of coffee tables, a lozenge-shaped slab, 30″ x 72″ x 16.5″ high

I’ve begun making a series of coffee tables, encouraged by a recent commission from my brother in law to make one for my sister’s 50th birthday later this month. It’s always easier to make things in small multiples, with variation in material, proportion and construction style. I had honestly never given much thought to the idea of a coffee table, but am discovering that it’s the perfect form to experiment with some new ideas. I also like that the coffee table is inherently casual, functioning as a site for dining, reading, writing, as a footrest and even as seating. Plus, I have a stockpile of wood I’ve been saving that is ideally suited to the task.

The first table to come off the bench is for our own use, a lozenge-shaped monster I cut from a solid slab of locally-milled Monterey cypress, three inches thick. The table has bent wire legs I salvaged from a 1950’s era production table that I plan to tool up to replicate in my shop. To me, the table bridges a Southern Californian ethos of casual modernism with a North Californian ethos of forest stewardship and artisanry.

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I like the ordinariness of the grain pattern; you can feel the girth of the tree

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I like any piece of furniture to have a stance, an attitude


Bodega Break

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distant foam line of the giant wave crashing off of Bodega Head

Every so often the storms conjure a giant wave off of Bodega Head, breaking right and left on either side of Bodega Rock, sometimes cresting all the way to the buoy, halfway to Tomales Bluff. This makes for an occasionally treacherous passage for Bodega Bay fishermen and is one reason why the traditional double-ender still prevails. ???? ????? ?? ??????? In a following sea, I’ve heard of transom boats backing into the Bay from offshore, unable to outrun the wave, positioning the bow to negotiate a breaker. ????? ????? Although notoriously sharky, on days like today the break looks ridable, I’d guess about double overhead, although I have yet to see anyone paddle out. ???? ??????? 365

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I was lucky to catch a rainbow rising above Bodega Head

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satellite view of Bodega Head, Bodega Rock and the entry to Bodega Bay harbor.

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Fog Studies 1

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Fog Study 1

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Fog Study 2

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Fog Study 3

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Fog Study 4

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Sand Pattern 1

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Sand Pattern 2

Apart from the redwoods, who loom at silent attention, the fog is the most distinguishing feature of our stretch of coastline. I think of the fog as redwood’s muse, a gargantuan creature, shy but willful, overly self-conscious, always in retreat, backing into things and blotting out the sun, dripping with embarrassment, seeking solitude.


Comparative Utopias

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I love the patterns that emerge on my chopping block

I think we can all agree that over the past decade, since the publication of Dwell Magazine and the increasing ubiquity of companies like Design Within Reach in the marketplace, mid-century modernism has emerged as the default style for design-savvy Americans. This observation may be obvious to many, but it was driven home for me after my recent whirlwind, two day ‘design research’ trip to Los Angeles, where one day I was hopping around the sun-drenched LA basin in a rented convertible and the next day found me splitting firewood and stocking the woodshed in preparation for the coming rains back at our studio compound on the Sonoma Coast up north. Scanning the sky-scraping peaks of redwoods swaying in offshore gusts between chops, I got to thinking about the stark contrast of climate and culture between Southern and Northern California, and how I’d like to make work that bridges their disparate utopias. Continue reading “Comparative Utopias”

Indian Summer

view west

Indian Summer

Walking through town
in Nederland Colorado at the peak
of Indian Summer at 8500 feet
above sea level, sky clear to the ozone,
aspen trees acid yellow against the
dissolving charcoal/green breaking
moray of tapering evergreen
and purple beetle-kill,
the mundane smells of everyday life
at midday- creosote, food frying,
mingling with wild smells
from just beyond town- snow melt rapids,
pine resin, sweet leaves dropping,
meadow grass seeding, a hint of chill
in the wind at my back, reminds
how small and welcoming and cozy
Town can be as winter approaches
and how generously it opens up
just before.


Snyder’s Garage

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Snyder’s Garage, Nederland, Colorado

I’m excited to be reconnecting with my old pals Mike High and George Elvin over a new project we’re teaming up on in Nederland, Colorado. It’s been 25 years since the three of us worked together as Providence Builders in Alexandria, Virginia, a short-lived design/build company I helped found soon after Mike and I graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago. We loved working together back then, mostly on domestic scale renovations, but our ideas were beyond our capabilities. ????? ???? ????? We’ve all kept on track in our different ways since that time- George earned his PhD in Architecture and is now a tenured professor; Mike is a seasoned real estate broker and craftsman; I’ve realized a range of ambitious projects in the realms of public art and design. Mike’s also invited his friend Carr to join us on our reconnaissance trip, who works internationally in various capacities producing events and staging live music. ????? ???????

Mike fell in love with the town of Nederland during an extended trip last winter and has been in touch with us all since then as he’s developed a strategy for the adaptive reuse of Snyder’s Garage, a well-sited historic building for sale downtown. We’ll spend the next two days in feasibility mode- surveying the building, brainstorming, visiting local sites, and generally devising a plan that capitalizes on our combined knowledge and professional experience. ?????? ??? ???? ?????

snyders garage sign

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A September Ritual

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Each fall I sweep the dry duff off of our funky barn roof before the Dampness ensues

One of my September rituals has been clearing the corrugated roof of our funky back barn. The rambling, open-air structure is an explosion of three dissimilar building concepts, fused together with the oddball valleys and warped pitches of an under-planned roofline, one that collects piles of fallen duff of the redwood trees overhead each year. ???? 365 ????? Though it’s a bit of an eyesore to most sensibilities, the building is structurally sound, and I’ve enjoyed studying it over the years whenever I clear the roof during the dry season, thinking about how best to put the barn to good use before the Dampness ensues until the next spring. I’ve learned to appreciate the improvised mess of its design with the same happy reluctance I reserve for the work of Frank Gehry. ?????? ???? ???? ???

The barn’s deceptively vast interior spaces are multi-functional and well-suited to our needs: a portion of the building is where I store paints and hardware, metal-working tools and surplus gear; a portion houses one of our wells; a portion we use as an annex to our sculpture studio; a portion is to store large equipment, a boat and other materials. Over the summer I’ve been trying to clear space inside to better support the increasing scope of our wowhaus projects. We recently sold our broken down McCormick-Deering tractor, which got me thinking about using the barn as a drying shed for the wood I’m about to have milled from our land. ???? ???? ???? ????? In conjunction with my new woodshop and a related body of work I have in development, I plan to source and mill more of my own logs, and have just enough room in the barn to air-dry a few thousand board feet. This spring I plan to build a solar kiln for a final kiss of dry heat.

redwoods above

Taking a break from the work, I lie on my back on the roof and stare up into the redwoods

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