DEBOER

Most days you can find me in the barn out back, designing and building furniture out of solid wood. My backyard shop is tucked in the trees above six mile creek, a wooded hillside above and shimmering water below. A beautiful spot to live and to work in wood... It's a quest for harmony I suppose. A search for a way of life that is creative, useful, and sustainable. My approach is traditional and I use hand tools to achieve shapes and joinery that machinery cannot replicate. I love what the machines do for me but I'm happiest when I shut them off and turn to the drawknife, chisel, plane, and spoke shave-these are the tools that connect me to the material and help me feel contentment through the day. From this state of mind comes the focus and patience to do better work. I strongly prefer to work with domestic woods, often locally sawn and air dried. These woods ground me, give the work a sense of place and feel like the right choice for the health of our planet.