Sometimes I have an idea. And then, sometimes, an idea has me: This is the way it is with Dark Matter. While sketching potential projects, I’d made an isometric line drawing of a normal rectangular cabinet. I quickly became fixated on the idea of a cabinet that always looks like you’re viewing it from an angle, where you’re never quite sure of what you’re seeing.

The title “Dark Matter” has a double meaning. It references a science fiction novel about a box that exists in quantum superposition (I imagine such an object would look something like this); it’s also a comment on being indigenous and white-passing — a different sort of superposition.

While this cabinet will function as an altar to my grandmother (a full blood Grand River Ottawa Indian), it’s also my first experiment in a burgeoning exploration of strangely extruded forms. The construction challenges were by turns vexing and playful, and I look forward to revisiting it again in the future. For now, however, it’s given me a renewed appreciation for the simple rectangle.

I came to The Krenov School after 18 months of rigorous intrapersonal work with psychedelics. The things I see in my mind have a very specific “look” on ketamine, very similar to the grain in this Bay Laurel sapwood. It’s also serendipitous to leap from a period of zealous self-examination into an intense and fervid creative pursuit; one process becomes an extension of the other. I highly recommend both psychedelic medicine and the Krenov School for the confrontation of existential angst.

Inspired by the original Dune universe envisioned by director Alejandro Jodorowsky, this sideboard leans into the unique graphics in quartersawn madrone to create a piece of furniture born of that world.

Case features japanese dovetails and carved drawer fronts, all cut by hand.

Work in progress
Another project inspired by Frank Herbert’s Dune, this one draws from a deep well of nerdy symbolism. If you’re into that sorta thing, I’ll explain all the metaphors below. For everyone else, here’s the nut graf: The Gom Jabbar is an excruciating test that determines whether a human can override extreme pain and fear by willpower alone. A test subject places their hand in a box, which in turn produces an unbearable burning pain. My box is decidedly more whimsical: you’re invited to reach your hand inside to get a piece of spicy habanero candy.

Now the nerdy stuff: The design of this box is not loyal to what is described in the novel. Rather, it is a visual metaphor for the sandworm as it surfaces from the desert. A sandworm's internal digestive system functions like a massive blast furnace, producing intense heat and fire — an interesting parallel to the burning produced by the Gom Jabbar box. The windows into the case reference the prescience Paul gains from exposure to the spice melange, and the role the sandworm plays in its production. The internal components of the box are treated with shou sugi ban, another reference to the worm’s inferno. The case is dovetailed for funsies.

Dr. Suegee Tamar-Mattis is a founding partner and Medical Director at Liminal Medicine, providing ketamine-assisted psychotherapy in both individual and group sessions. For the group retreats, Suegee needed a way to organize and transport medicine to the retreat center without the everything getting jumbled up and rattling around. The box opens to lay flat and function as a tray. Interior compartments contain dividers and an additional, removable tray with a handmade, rotating ebony bar that keeps everything in its place.

I chose Gabon ebony to echo the classic black doctors house-call bag.

This is a keepsake box for my friend Anne. Her favorite color is purple, and she lives on a gorgeous piece of land up on Sonoma Mountain; both factors informed the design. Using lasercut templates, I created a rolling mountain pattern that travels around the box. I used alternating half-laps, with copper pins to reinforce the joints.

Purple heart, Peruvian walnut, art paper, copper wire

In the Intermediate Wood Technology class at College of the Redwoods, students build a Shaker table. Each student puts their own spin on the design, and perhaps I took that spin to the extreme: I wondered how much I could remove from the original design, while retaining the basic elements of the original.

Table features end grain inlay, sliding dovetails to attach the the top (and limit cupping) and through mortise and tenon joints cut by hand.

Bay laurel, walnut, hardboard

My friend (a mother of 3) has a bumper sticker on his truck that says M.I.L.F. (Man I Love Frogs). He loves frogs the way most people love puppies, so when I saw this print, I knew it was the perfect birthday present; all it needed was the right frame. I used half lap joints that alternated top to bottom at each corner, and reinforced them with a triangle of 3 copper pins. I enjoy how the swampy, flowing fungal lines complement the subject.

Spalted tamarind, copper wire