The sea perch have been running so I spent the incoming tide surf-casting at Doran Beach. I had major strikes at every cast but was unable to land any because I did not have any #6 hooks on hand. I noticed how fishing seems more poetic when no fish are caught, more of a metaphor for a state of mind. It becomes about the posture of standing and waiting, staring out to sea in a shifting contrapposto as the sands shift under foot with every retreating wave. My brain works well in this state, when my body feels like a Brain Stand.
My path to woodworking roughly follows this trajectory: fishing: baseball: architecture: rock and roll: woodworking. Fishing and baseball require standing and waiting in gestures that help me feel connection to the past. My father taught me about fishing and playing baseball as soon as I could walk, and I’ve always enjoyed the rituals attending both more than actually catching fish or ‘winning’. Architecture seemed to involve a lot of sitting so was lost on me. Rock and Roll required a kind of anxious standing and caused me neck pain. At its best, woodworking resembles fishing and baseball in both gesture and mental state, with the added benefit of producing predictable outcomes. I look forward to fishing more while the perch are running and I ponder upcoming projects in the shop.
Tagged: doran beach, fishing, sea perch, woodworking
A few years ago I designed a pedestal to be used as either a table base or, when scaled down, to support a bench. I wanted to evoke the grace and solidity of classical Greek architecture, but based my contours and proportions on the native oak and acorn instead of the acanthus of the classical world. We made molds, cast a batch in concrete, and made cast concrete tops with inlaid, hand painted tile tops for a public park.
The process produced a few ‘rejects’ with which I have been experimenting over the summer. Combined with rough cut slabs from fallen trees on our property, they make wonderful tables; the smooth, soft contours of the white base contrasts strikingly with the rough sawn, sun-bleached wood.
I invented a system to use rough cut slabs to make a comfortable outdoor bench, which compliments the table, the slabs appearing to hover just above the ground. I plan to present this concept to Benziger Family Winery as the ‘Benziger Family Table’ they have recently commissioned me to design for outdoor use at the winery.
Tagged: benziger winery, invention, outdoor table, wowhaus
The L. L. Bean catalog was one of my favorite things to read as a kid growing up in sixties and seventies suburbia. The autumn issue was always the best. Before L. L. Bean became synonymous with blandly practical conservatism, the catalog was filled with specialized tools for specialized activities like fly-fishing, snow shoeing and canoeing. The images were sparse and the austere copy read with an implicit ‘down east’ dryness. Reading the catalog got me interested in cross-country skiing, strip planked canoes and sharpening knives. I would ask for field coats, chamois-lined khakis and camp moccasins for Christmas. I taught myself how to wax my own skis, split wood and catch trout on the many streams surrounding Philadephia’s Main Line.
L.L Bean was proletarian, supplying hunters, trappers, fishermen and woodsmen with quality gear to support their livelihood. Bean’s products offered the luxury of the essential and represented to me a trusty touchstone amidst the angst and uncertainty of the Vietnam War. I learned that if clothing has a distinct purpose, it can transcend fashion. Emphasis shifts to the aesthetics of functionality. In many ways, my pursuit of self-sufficiency – craft – making things- begins with a fashion sensibility. The tool shapes us as much as we shape the tool.
Tagged: fashion, L.L. Bean, Main Line