"The workshop is not where I build furniture. It is where I find out whether a design actually works."
Starting With a Question
Every piece begins with a specific question.
Some questions are structural. Others are about proportion, material, or use. The process is less about imposing a preconceived style than understanding the constraints of a problem and discovering what the material, function, and construction require.
Understanding how furniture actually works makes that possible.
A Design Problem: The Stitch Table
The Stitch Table began with a simple problem:
How do you build a solid wood dining table from two slabs without filling the gap with epoxy or hiding the joint entirely?
Most solutions treat the gap as something to correct. I wanted to treat it as the purpose of the design.
Solid wood moves, especially at wide spans. Instead of fighting that movement, the top is divided and reconnected using a stitched joint that allows each slab to move naturally. The joint is structural, not decorative. It manages movement, reduces internal stress, and makes the forces at work visible rather than concealed.
That single decision shaped everything else: the thickness of the top, the base geometry, and the overall proportions of the table.
Design Informed by Craft
This way of working relies on a clear understanding of traditional furniture construction. Knowing how and why certain systems endure makes it possible to remove what isn’t necessary and keep what is.
When a joint, dimension, or detail remains, it’s because it’s doing real work whether structural, functional, or visual.
The aim isn’t complexity. It’s clarity.
The Commitment
Traditional joinery is not a stylistic choice. It is a way of making structure visible. Rather than hiding how a piece is held together, the construction becomes part of the design itself. Every joint must earn its place structurally, visually, or functionally.
I cut these joints by hand, mortise chiseled to the line, tenon fitted until it moves through with resistance but no force. When the joint is right, you feel it before you measure it. No fasteners required. The joint tightens with time rather than loosening.
Making As Thinking
Each stitch is hand-fitted to its specific location. The recess is routed and chiseled to match the key exactly, no gap, no filler, no tolerance for slop. The contrast between the tie and the slab wood is a design decision: how much visual tension do you want?
These are the decisions that drawings cannot fully resolve. You make them at the bench, with the actual material in front of you.
Iteration and Resolution
Designs evolve through iteration. Ideas are tested, refined, and sometimes abandoned altogether. What remains is what proves itself in use.
Each project informs the next, gradually forming a consistent language across the work. Over time, individual solutions begin to relate to one another, not as variations, but as part of an ongoing exploration.
Each completed piece is an answer, and the starting point for the next question.