On Furniture Design: An Artist’s Statement
I am a fifth generation furniture maker, although the first in my family to push design into fine art. While all of my objects are fully functional and act as expected – chairs can be sat upon, tables support things, cabinets offer useful storage – my motivation for making them is largely of a sculptor. I attempt to infuse common objects with poetry; these are things with brooding presence and much to say. My work is formally minimalist and emotionally expressionist. In all my pieces, in each of my pieces, I have attempted to capture an idea, an emotional note, and express that with force. Clarity, precision and power of expression are the goals of my craftsmanship. I aim to humanize these quotidian objects from our culture not by extending their usefulness, but amplifying their expressive aspects.