I am a self-taught furniture-maker living in the Pacific
Northwest.
Though officially untrained, tools did fill my childhood.
My father switched to carpentry when I was in Grade 1, after
coming to Canada as a Swiss pastry chef. Our family was always,
it seemed, either renovating old houses or building new ones.
Several years of carpentry work followed my own high school
graduation.
An interest in art and design was sparked by two years of
working and traveling in and around Europe in my early 20’s.
A more serious pursuit of furniture-making began after completing
a BA at Dalhousie in Halifax in the mid-1990s.
Seasonal self-employment in British Columbia’s forestry
industry during those first years paid for the shop and the
tools and allowed me several months each winter to work on
the skills.
Inspiration comes from all the diverse manifestations of
human spirit, enterprise, and ingenuity that are evident in
everything around us. Also from my parents and my partner,
who have always been hands-on kind of folk.
