Work in Progress: As part of a team of three, lead by Jeff Bearce, I am helping to design and build a traditional Japanese timber-frame guesthouse made of fur and redwood. It’s loft concept will have a kitchen, a stepped tansu (chest of drawers) to access the loft, sliding glass doors, and a corten steel corrugated roof.

I am immensely grateful for my teachers, Takami Kawai and Jeff Bearce. In the fall of 2021, I traveled overseas to study Japanese Woodworking under Master Kawai. It was a dream fulfilled and a truly special experience to learn from him. Practicing traditional Japanese joinery, I learned how to setup, maintain, and use chisels, hand-planes, hammers, marking and measuring tools, and saws. He taught me that true craftsmanship requires immense focus. One must use many senses to understand what’s happening with the materials and the tools. With an encouraging grin, he would remind me, “the best way to focus is to enjoy. If you don’t enjoy, then do something else.”