As a fifth generation woodworker,
sometimes I believe the need to be in the studio is in my bones.
My passion for woodworking has driven a career of over thirty
years and continues to fuel my creative process.
My journey to becoming the woodworker of my heritage has often
been the road less traveled. I have built scores of houses, stores,
banks, cabinets, boxes and custom motorcycles. I have been a
union carpenter, a long haul truck driver and a helicopter mechanic.
I have tanned hides and dug ditches for pipe larger than me.
I have flown old airplanes and helicopters. I have driven fast
cars and faster motorcycles. I have an iron pterodactyl living
in my front yard.
Along the way I developed a passion for Asian art and architecture
and the designs of the Arts and Crafts movement. George Nakishima,
Sam Maloof, the Greene brothers and Frank Lloyd Wright, have
influenced me. I draw inspiration from the things that surround
me, both natural and manmade. I have used these influences to
create not only furniture, but also metal sculpture.
These influences and the driving forces within me cause a continual
striving for perfection. I seek to balance the aesthetic with
the engineering to create an object of beauty. This involves
a thousand skills learned not only from my woodworking background,
but all the various things that I have done. I combine the art
with the craft so the spirit of the tree can live on as a piece
of fine furniture enriching the lives of the people for whom
it was created.
I have followed a dream and it has brought me here, to the Big
Island of Hawaii. In this place I have put all the pieces of
me together. Now I do the work I love. My wife works with me
in the studio, my son surfs and we get to swim with the turtles.
I enjoy the community of gifted artists here. Every day I get
to work with "big boy tools" and chose the project
that I will create. I follow the wood; it shows the way. I honor
it and I try to find its ultimate use. Koa was the wood of the
Ali'i (Hawaiian Royalty), it should be respected. I do my best.
