Vignette to Display Japanese Antique Warehouse Door (detail)
approximately 76"w x 98"t.
Brought from Japan by the client to install in her condominium. The door is probably from a rice warehouse given the detailing on the large lock plate in the center of the lower panel. I created the surrounding columns, black granite base and hand-carved screen, or ranma, across the top. The ranma depicts favorite memories of Japan including a silhouette of Mt. Fuji, a flowering cherry tree and the garrulous Japanese White-eye bird. The medallions, or mon, on either side are the crossed feathers of the ancestral family crest acknowledging their Samurai heritage. Stained and shade lacquered elm, black granite.
Please contact the artist for more information.

Artist Biography

I learned the enjoyment of working with my hands from my father. I don’t know that he instructed me in anything in particular but watching him taught me patience and the ability to see beyond what is visible. A fence doesn’t have to be just a fence; it can something of grace and beauty.

In my early 20’s my formal education in languages carried me to Pakistan’s NW Frontier Province. There I saw grace and beauty, in abundance, in the everyday objects people made with their hands using the most primitive of tools. Form followed function in a most elegant manner.

Since 1967 I have been designing and building custom furniture and objects for private clients as well as designers and architects of national stature whose work can be seen throughout the world. Architectural Digest, Architectural Record, Metropolitan Home, Fine Woodworking Magazine and numerous regional periodicals have all featured my work.

Early on, when the art/craft scene was enjoying a renaissance, my work was shown in galleries and competitions throughout the Pacific Northwest. Since then, all of my work has been done by commission. My overriding philosophy about what I do is that it should quietly, with grace, perform its function without intruding or becoming the focal point. Unless, of course, that’s what the client wants!