I turn stuff into things. That’s my superpower. I take undifferentiated material and turn it into distinctive and meaningful objects, images and built environments.
It’s easy, really. All you have to do is apply the finest methods and materials to a design that engages the fulness of what it means to be human. Easy.
Take the design of a kitchen, for example. A kitchen is both the site of improvisation and creativity, and a highly ritualized space, enacting the repetitive realities of life and death, of cleansing and transformation. The things we do here keep us alive, and mark the endpoints for the living things we transform—as if by some kind of alchemical magic—into completely new substances. The environment we build around these actions must add to the experience, aesthetically and functionally, and must be built to last for the generations it will sustain.
For over thirty years, I have been exploring the relationship between design processes and, broadly understood, religious sensibility. It is a rich and rewarding way to explore the range of design possibilities, and to hear how they speak to us as human beings. It is a practice that engages us deeply and fully in the project of building the “world that aught to be.”
It is a quiet path to re-enchantment with the world around us.
I have been fortunate to have studied under and worked with some incredibly gifted people, who continue to show me new things and ideas. Because of their influence, I have been able to invent novel building materials, and develop new collaborative methods for generating ornamental motífs and artwork. I teach, conduct improvised liturgies and nonce rituals, and occasionally find “good trouble” monkey-wrenching the political nonsense that’s squandering our future.
Also, I have been called “a Tourist Trapped in a Local’s Body” by a teenage daughter. Though it was intended as a snide insult, I have adopted this appellation as a keen honor and my life’s highest calling. To be intimate with the world around me, but also forever a stranger.
There is no such thing as "green design". There is only design. Anything else is ultimately a form of nihilism. There is no such thing as "fair trade". There is only trade: Anything else is a form of theft. Any aesthetic that fails to account for socially and environmentally sustainable outcomes, any design process that fails to incorporate green materials and methods, is inherently flawed and aesthetically corrupt.
In the past, we thought in terms of form vs function. Today, we must speak of form, function, and fairness. Does our use of materials embody a fair and just deployment of resources and regard for the labor of our fellow humans? Does it consider its impact on future generations? Does it enact a sustainable practice? How we make things expresses our values, and history will judge us by how we navigate this moment.
In my studio, we use only sustainably harvested or reclaimed hardwoods. Much of our material, such as locust, white oak, sassafras and mountain laurel, is harvested from die-back in local woodlands and cured in our facilities.
Engineered materials featured in our proprietary products are manufactured from scrap branches which were simply piled high and burned in previous decades, and fast-growing saplings. Plantations of these juvenile trees convert more greenhouse gasses than mature forests or longer-cycle tree farms.
Finishing materials are Greenguard certified with minimal VOC’s.
These practices, along with minimal sub-5% waste practices, LED and natural lighting, natural gas 95% efficient radiant heating throughout our facility, allows me to brashly claim that there are few greener fabricators at any scale.
Further Resources:
• Can I rely on sustainability seals such as that of the FSC?
Over the past couple decades, I have been exploring the contested and complex terrain that sits between the arts and religion in contemporary US cultural life. I have been doing this through a mix of writings, presentations and performances, workshops and projects. A selection of these is described below:
The Partial Glimpse: Pattern Perception and Collaboration in the Worship Environment
Prophetic Burden: Scriptural Traditions in Contemporary Performance Art
Give Corporations a Conscience: On Corporate Personhood
Coming soon...
Classes in woodworking design and fabrication are available. Information on request.