Wood
Bowline chair
Ash bent lamination/steam bending finished with shellac and paste wax
2022
This chair is an exploration in woven wood bending. An object built to better wrap my head around new ways of thinking: the incredible ability of steam, the hidden softness of lignin, the brute strength of glue, the deceptive similarity of chipboard. Inspired by the study of knotting patterns in the marlinspike seamanship sailing tradition, this project started with scaled model making and form explorations in laminated chipboard. A marlin spike is a metal hand tool that has been tapered into a cone with the end rounded over. This tool, worn on the hip, would be used for all things related to marine rope work like unlaying rope for splicing, untying knots, toggle joining ropes under tension, and the list goes on. Seamen who mastered this work earned the title “Marlin Spike” and this craft tradition lives on today.
Mossy Bench
Power carved Ash finished with danish oil and a slip seat upholstered with green twill, 44”x17”x22”, 2021
While Living in the Pacific North West, I fell in love with sitting. Sitting and watching — grandeur of the forests and the species that inhabit them. Inspired by these vast ecosystems, I set out to create a bench mimicking naturally occurring forms found in those ancient maritime forests
Möbius Mirror
Cherry wood bent laminations finished with shellac, 14” Round, 2022
Möbius strip: a non-orientable surface that can be formed by attaching the ends of a strip of paper together with a half-twist; a mathematical phenomena discovered in 1858 that had appeared in Roman mosaics as early as the third century CE.
This mirror is comprised of seven ply-wood Möbius strips woven together. Each “ear” is made of three layers of cherry veneer laser cut to a specific “V” shape — biased towards its leading edge and tapered on each tail. This profile allows for flexibility in certain areas and stiffness in others directly defining the shape after molding. Each component feeds through the loop of the next and locks under the ear of the following resulting in a circular form with a heptagonal opening in the middle.
This project started as a formal exploration of shapes achievable through wood bending - started with modeling in a different material that shared similar material qualities, the project was set up to explore sculptural multiples and how they interact as a system/what shapes are achievable. and in doing so, I stumbled on the mobius strip after adding twists to many tests which took many different shapes and forms both before and after cutting flat and molded and twisted/not twisted. it was meant to be generative and open ended without the additional pressure of needing to make or design for function.
Perch Chair
Red Oak, 2023
Built for moments of reflection
UCC Boulder Project
Reclaimed Southern Yellow Pine Flooring and Reclaimed Steel Nails, 2022
RISD Undergrad THesis
Ut venenatis eleifend sem, euismod gravida ante auctor ac. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos.
Card Cabinet
Douglas Fir, 18”x9”x6”, 2023
This is a photo of some of my Polish family from August 1937. The little girl in a white dress in the front row is my Babcia Lila (grandmother) who was four and a half years old at the time this was taken. The young woman behind her is Ciocia Ula, my great great aunt. Ula was the card player in our family, she taught my dad how to play bridge as soon as he was old enough to hold cards and my dad taught me. When I was a kid, my Babcia gave me a card box to bring back to the U.S. and this cabinet is largely based off its design
On my mom's side of the family, my great grandma Dicey was the big card player. Her game of choice was Hand and Foot, a North American game related to canasta. My mom would spend summers with Grandma Dicey in Florida, and there she picked up the game and my mom taught me.
This cabinet is an investigation of Rybczynski/Leist card playing histories and stories. This case holds the ingredients to play hand and foot (or your game of choice) with up to 6 people sitting at the table, 8 decks of cards, pens/pencils and notebooks to keep score.
Showshoes
Steam bent Ash frames laced with nylon webbing, 32” Long, 2022
I am fascinated by movement – not only across landscapes, but also as a form of exploration and a way to investigate the environment we are inhabitants of. By extension, I find tools we build and construct to aid in the movement/dialogue as human+earth fascinating. The shape, size, and materials used to produce snowshoes have been endlessly altered and iterated on to maximise functionality depending on the subtleties of localised conditions around the world. These snowshoes are adapted to fit the size and shape of my body and the way I move, with the intention of exploring the American Northeast on foot. Employing elements of both traditional and modern, local building techniques – these shoes are my offering to the incredibly rich wilderness lineages/traditions of winter exploration and tool making which exist in the United States and around the world.
Witness Tree: Double Bit Axe
Maple head and Ash sapling handle, 2022
Forest cutting was used as a means for creating tillable farmland for colonists moving to the “Green Mountain State'' in the early 18th century. But as the industrial revolution grew in the United States and wood consumption skyrocketed from the 1760’s to the 1830’s, logging quickly became the largest industry in New England and heavy deforestation followed suit. It is estimated that 36 million board feet of lumber and 300 ship masts were being exported from the American Northeast annually. New tools such as the double bit axe were introduced, streamlining hand felling and splitting causing a 60% decrease in forest cover statewide between 1800 and 1880. Within a span of 80 years Vermont's forest cover had declined drastically, from 80% to 20%.
George Perkins Marsh, credited with writing the first book related to the idea of conservation in the United States, wrote his text in 1864 which began a cultural shift in humans' approach to forest resources in the American Northeast. His book challenged the common and accepted idea that humans made no impact on nature, especially in the realm of forest ecology. Man and Nature was a foundational text for many of the stewardship programs we know today at every level of government such as the National Park Service to private forestry firms and land owners alike. Today, the forest cover of Vermont has been regenerated to 90%, better than it was before colonialism.
To explore this decline and following increase I made an “axe”. The double bit style head of this tool was carved from maple wood which came from a tree previously standing in the Marsh Billings Rockefeller National Historical Park. In contrast, the handle growing from the head is made from an ash sapling that I harvested during a visit to the park. The sapling was cleared from a historical stand of Norway spruce planted by Fredrick Billings in 1887. This stand borders a viewshed envisioned and created by Billings overlooking Mt. Ascutney in the distance. The Norway Spruce are getting older, and the decision to cut the hardwood saplings was made in an attempt to further their life as a historical record of the Billings Era of authorship on the land. The head and handle are joined together how an axe would be traditionally, with a wedge. This “axe” is to be stored with its head down, in permanent waiting as the reforested handle grows out of its history.
Woven Table
Hand processed Black Ash splints and riven Ash, 30”x36”x24”, 2023
This past semester I presented a body of work for my thesis exhibition based around the study of craft traditions of the American North East; namely green woodworking and Black-Ash basketry. The centerpiece of the collection is this table. It was built using greenworking tools and techniques and features a range of adapted Black Ash basketry practices to create wooden hinges, and a weight bearing suspension surface. The table accompanies a wall hanging cabinet, which investigates my families’ histories of playing cards. In tandem, the two pieces explore lineage, both artisanal and craft ethnography and familial and personal introspection
Woven Chair
Riven Black Locust and Flat Reed, 26”x22”x22”, 2023
A special thank you to Steve Emma for graciously opening his studio and spending time showing me tips and tricks, talking through problems, and divulging his professional secrets. This project would not have been possible without his help, and I am grateful for his willingness to share his love for his craft.
Baskets
Hand processed Black Ash basket splints, Natural Dyes, and Yarn/Cordage, 2023