Portrait of an Artisan

Your furniture is classic and elegant, yet casual. What are your inspirations?

Shaker furniture, early Texas furniture, Scandinavian furniture, Arts and Crafts architecture and furniture.

You start with some basic patterns, don’t you?

The rockers and dining chairs I build are all from the same patterns. There’s a great deal of time invested in selecting the wood, so that the color and figure make an interesting composition. We are using walnut, cherry, maple, and mesquite. Given our approach to selecting the wood, strength and hardness are essentially equivalent in use for all four woods. The real difference is in color, figure and texture, because we finish naturally, without stains.

But you also do commissions as well, right?

Yes, but other than for our dining tables, that’s not the business we pursue. For other items, we usually do custom work for people with whom we already have relationships. Instead, I would recommend other craftsmen more suited to the project or who can fill the order more easily.

What’s the price range on your chairs and tables?

The rockers are $1,450, except for mesquite, which is $3,500, because I have to beat the bushes to get it, and there’s an enormous amount of waste because the trees grow small, crooked, scattered. Dining chairs re $750, and $950 with arms.. We build the tables in custom styles, sizes and shaped. They start around $2,500.

Is there any benefit to working in an arts colony like Wimberley?

I enjoy my neighbors who are craftsmen, and e do exchange ideas. And I think, as a group, we attract some customers to the area.