Welcome to Medullary Ray

This is an updated photo of Portland where I live now. I work close by the river, the same Willamette river I wrote about: On my walk this morning I paused to admire the Willamette River. It is wide, and this morning, quiet, peaceful and full. As always it was flowing past me, underneath my footbridge.  The body split apart and came back together again with grace and ease.  After admiring it’s awesome beauty I was reminded of my work and the feeling of running in place. On the surface the river looks so peaceful so laid back like nothing is really going on. It’s so full that rapids aren’t even showing where they usually highlight the rocky substrate.  This river has a powerful underbelly. The current that lies beneath is hard at work making smooth the rocks that nest on its great gut. It seems so much like my own work. I work and work and sometimes it doesn’t look like anything is being done. But I know what is going on, even if underneath.  I am th...

Yesterday as I was painting I came to a wall where I had installed two beautiful coat racks. I made them out of scraps of Jatoba and Wengé . They are so rich in color and more beautiful and well made than anything in that room. I couldn’t just paint the wall off white. I consulted with our in house artist, Megan, and we chose a rich color to accent the racks.  When you surround yourself with beautiful woods skillfully designed and built cabinets, furniture and more, you will naturally want to extend their vibrancy into other aspects of your home. I think this is further evidence that our surroundings have a profound effect on our spirit , which in turn supports our ability to live and work creatively. Hire me to build your next project!

What is successful Design in furniture? Successful design is functional and visually pleasing. The challenge is to arrive at a design that meets both of these qualities equally. I believe woodworking is very much like the martial arts.  It is discipline and focus and being in tune with your senses, your feelings and the material that you are working with. Sometimes we just know we should wait to make that cut or start that glue-up and other times we know that everything is in alignment and there is no time to waste. It is a very personal process. Design is much the same. We struggle with the radius of an arc, the heaviness of a line, the proportions of a cabinet all related to the wood we are using and perhaps the final placement of the piece. Design is exciting! It can be a lot of fun to design your next desk or chair or armoire. Even more exciting to choose the wood. What woodworker doesn't like to go look at your local hardwood supplier and see what they mi...

                                                                                                 What's a Product POP ? We built the black metal tünr Tower  for  UBIQ  but it wasn't showing the public clearly enough that this is new product . The Tower is like a shoe tree, it displays a shoe out on the floor, away from a wall. In this case we were displaying six shoes fully dressed with the new sock and lace. This store wanted the Tower because they were concerned about shrinkage  (product theft). It wasn't working to sell the tünr products! So UBIQ decided to have the product out on the floor and this display is the result. It is basically the same pop display that is in DTLR , PHLI , Atmos , and  Concepts . I chose...

 The Madagascar Black Laminate Tower was designed specifically for UBIQ on Walnut Street, downtown Philly.  Check out UBIQ! .   Stay tuned for the latest UBIQ version of the Product POP.

Here we are in the shop with the first of the Product POP's completed. The stacks of shelving for the remaining pop's are in the background! The rods and shelf dividers are all hand cut and sandblasted giving them a glittery look. The 20 units I built are all out the door, in their prospective shops in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Georgia, Road Island, Maryland and more . . .

PHLI in Chicago has the new tünr product and display! This is the first in a store, loaded and ready to go.  click here to visit PHLI One of the first six premium socks and laces for iconic styles from iconic brands.