ETHOS
Each piece is unique, built by hand from start to finish.
Planned obsolescence is replaced with infinite durability.
Shelf life? Minimum one thousand years.
PROCESS
The process happens one object at a time, with a tendency toward “found materials”. I try to be gentle with the earth, using salvaged lumber, scrap metal and fallen trees.
I use water based and low VOC solvents and finishes wherever possible, and left to my own devices, would only finish with linseed oil and beeswax. Some people want to abuse table tops, spray them with cleaners, set drinks on them and have them shine forever, which makes most natural finishes impossible to maintain. In these cases I use a low VOC, water based, hand-rubbed polyurethane finish. Everything is meant to be used, these things wear and develop their own natural patina. Dents, chips, marks— these are signs of life.
I use very basic tools, many of them hand powered, as well as lots of hand sanding. There are many reasons for this— it’s more precise, it brings you closer to the task, it’s cheaper and it’s less loud.
I am of the Hands-On School, not the Jeff Koons School of Disembodied Corporate Manufacture.
STEEL
Much of the steel I use comes from scrap metal in steelyards, which without my scavenging, would have been sent to China on a freighter, melted down and shipped back to the USA as something else. My garbage can/feed bucket lamps are entirely recycled or “up-cycled” with the exception of the electrical components. Everything is hand welded, hand ground, hand sanded.
I like rust, but not too much. Most of my steel is either clear coated or waxed to preserve its natural patina. I’m not interested in things being too clean or sleek. There are no CNC cuts— I like heavy weld lines, visible bolts and hardware, hand finished surfaces, crooked lines.
WOOD
Most of the wood I use is reclaimed, or from fallen trees in Washington and Oregon which would otherwise have been turned into mulch for suburban gardens and sold at Home Depot. I also use wood that has survived forest fires in central Oregon.
I use lots of Juniper. This species, although partly invasive, is beautiful and very difficult to work with because of it’s unruly nature. It twists, it splits, it’s angry wood, and carpenters flee. It’s also ancient wood from the high deserts of Central Oregon, a place very special to the Native Americans who once lived here freely. It’s naturally rot resistant and tenacious.
I also use Douglas Fir, Maple, Black Walnut, fallen or reclaimed redwood, as well as stumps, scavenged pylons, railroad ties, discarded construction lumber and old barn wood.