Standing in the lumber aisle, holding this straight-grained Douglas fir 2x4, I saw possibility trapped in convention. Eight feet of potential, sold by the board foot, waiting to become something beyond its industrial destiny. The challenge wasn't just to make a chair - it was to prove that extraordinary form could emerge from the most ordinary material.
Single 2x4 construction
This piece demanded architectural thinking applied to furniture making. Every angle calculated, every cut intentional. The wood grain becomes a unifying thread, flowing through joints that appear separate but remain connected. Traditional joinery - dovetails, dados, mortise and tenon - serves both structure and sculpture. The geometry emerged through iterative sketching, each plane solving problems created by the last.
What fascinates me is the moment someone realizes it's actually a chair. The angular geometry reads as sculpture until the body recognizes the seat, the back, the arms. Comfort comes not from cushioning but from the way the planes support and guide the sitter. It's architecture for the human body - shelter at the scale of a single person, built from a single piece of construction lumber.
2025
"Complex form from simple material"