Jenga Pile/Pire

Still playing with the idea of stacking things (ie. Tetris) I decided, while back at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, to make a Jenga-like stack of oak and set it on fire. why not right? The structure was approximately..... taller than me, and made exclusively from green wood that I split by hand with a sledge hammer.

Big Tetris

This is a piece I did back in Undergrad, a large move-able Tetris set, set against a perfect Tetris wall right outside the sculpture department at Oberlin College. I starred at that wall for so many frustrated hours that I decided to make it a little bit more fun.  Approximately 4'x2'x6" mdf and lots of bright paint.

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED.video

Check out the video of the Some Assembly Required Chair.

Also at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVU1Eg6G9tM&feature=youtu.be

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED.

My final project from Vivian Beer's Metal Furniture class at Penland School of Craft was this chair. Initially inspired by a very big, very soft arm chair that I used to curl up in when I was a small one; I tried to replicate that feeling of intimate comfort in a traditionally un-comfotable material: steel. Also because I had to transport this rather large chair back to my new home of Chicago from North Carolina in a small station wagon, the chair needed to be completely collapsible... Its starting to be a trend for me. I like really big things, but I don't have a truck, and I still need to be able to maneuver this large projects usually with the help of just one other person, therefore, everything has to be collapsible. Its actually a fun challenge for me. enjoy!

Third Wheel Bench, OR the Lightning Bolt Coffee Table

Coffee Table? Bench? yeah, it is what you make of it. One of my first projects out of my metal furniture class at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. It was my first time using steel, welding and breaking and bending metal. This coffee table/ bench is about four and a half feet long, with space in the middle bend for books and magazines. and its bright yellow! always a good thing.

A tree fell in Brooklyn. It became a lamp.

Just adding some new photos of the most recent work. I've been trying to use as much recovered wood as possible recently, even if it means physically recovering it myself. After a big wind storm in the fall of 2010, hundreds of trees in Prospect Park fell over and were quickly chipped by the parks service. I jumped in a collected what small pieces I could carry myself, before they were chipped. they have become parts of several new projects including my first foray into lamp making.
Also note the "infinity" end table. Made from yellow pine from a really interesting recovered wood dealer in Brooklyn- M.Fine Lumber. Check them out.

The Newburgh Library

The newest addition to my furniture collection has literally just gone up! Again I am playing with the idea of building furniture for those who roam aimlessly...like some people I know....This piece is for them. Its completely deconstructable and made entirely with good old fashioned jointery, no nails or screws.
Made from just about everything and anything I could get my hands on, including....Ash, Hickory, American Black Walnut and a little bit of Cherry with its bark still on.
This project was inspired by my studio space in Newburgh, NY which was in dire need of a reading space. My fellow Studio dwellers often need a place to rest our feet and engage our minds; now we have one.

Milk Crate- as Book Shelf.

the idea for the milk crate as bookshelf- was inspired by my own lack of furniture as a student. in desperation for shelving my friends and I used to construct whole walls of plastic milk crates filled with books-art supplies etc. the system was useful because we moved all the time and the crates doubled as moving boxes, seating and shelves. I wanted to maintain the ultimate usefulness of the shape- but transform it into a real piece of furniture. The boxes are made completely out of this great old growth oak that i literally found on the side of the street in Fort Greene brooklyn. I am going to make these crates reproducible soon for all your storage needs! Prices will come soon!

"Blood Diamond"- The Paduk Coffee table

The newest addition to the catalog of furniture- The "Blood Diamond" coffee table is made from African Paduk and ebony. Its not the most environmentally or socially responsible piece...hence the name, But it is built to last a couple life times. No manufactured obsolescence here. The table is constructed using a combination of mortice and tenon jointery and ebony wedges. It is an original design and a one of a kind piece. Hope you enjoy it!

Asymmetric Ruffle Skirt-Rough Silk, Wool

Deconstructed Stool-Cedar, Recovered Wood

Large Flop pocketed Skirt

Pasadena Fwy Bench

My red oak bench, although built in the snowy plains of Ohio, was almost unconsciously influenced by the freeways and overpasses that dot my hometown of Los Angeles. This bench brings me back to a specific point on the freeway between Downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena where you travel through a series of tunnels. Although the tunnels mark the start of a very narrow, old freeway that many find stressful, to me they represents the way home. The bench is constructed without the use of nails or screws--utilizing wood jointery to fit each piece into the whole. I chose red oak as the material because I liked the wide grain and soft color. It is an affordable material that grows all over the Midwest.