Tom Owens has been a woodworker since 1984, both as a furniture designer/maker and as a timber frame designer and carpenter. Tom apprenticed with a Master Japanese carpenter in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern California building a traditional Japanese “minka” (farmhouse) style home as well as studying teahouse and sukiya style carpentry and furniture.

Living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina since 1994 Tom co-founded High Country Timberframe & Gallery Woodworking Co. in 1997 with business partner Peter Jankowski.

Over the past 16 years Tom has received design/build commissions from a vast array of clients including The New York Botanical Gardens, churches and religious organizations, various corporations, municipalities, architects, and dozens of private individuals.

Tom’s furniture was featured in the book, “The Custom Furniture Source Book, A Guide to 125 Craftsmen” by Kerry Pierce and published by Taunton Press. Tom has written for “Sukiya Living: The Journal of Japanese Gardening”, on the topic of traditional Japanese carpentry and has had his fine furniture and timber frame work featured in publications as varied as Timber Homes Illustrated, Timber Home Living, The New York Times, Woodshop News, Carolina Architecture and Design, High Country Magazine, and many others.

Available by commission only, Tom Owens’ fine furniture and post and beam work is found in the homes of discerning clients, collectors and institutions throughout the United States.