Build Without Plans

Move beyond a measured drawing and let your imagination reign. My 6-year-old nephew, Ryan, loves to eat cheese puffs and play with Legos. For his birthday, I bought him a set of the colorful [...]

An Exercise in Repurposing and Design

As woodworkers, we possess the remarkable ability to augment everyday objects by adding wooden components to them. From crafting knobs, handles, and legs to forming frames, lids, pedestals, and [...]

Welcome To Modern Week

Many woodworkers have mixed feelings about modern design in woodworking. Traditional style plans outsell our modern furniture plans by at least 3:1, and the appearance of modern furniture in our [...]

Chester County Style

This Pennsylvania area developed unique and recognizable furniture. From its green rolling hills in the south and plains-like farmland in its middle to the nearly mountainous terrain in the [...]

Japanese Street Vendor Stool

This intriguing utilitarian design is at home most anywhere. As a curious designer I often find myself frequenting estate sales, online auctions and even local antique stores in search of [...]

Draw Your Way to Better Woodworking

Using your hands to sketch can teach your eyes to really see. Most of us use our eyes to avoid bumping into things; we probably are only using 20 percent of our visual ability. I had a student [...]

Everyday Greene & Greene

In the hands of genius, ordinary items become fine art. One of the best-known quotations to arise from the Arts & Crafts movement is from William Morris. A founding father of the movement in [...]

See Like a Designer

Look for the ‘bones’ to observe how form defines design. It happens during almost every furniture design workshop. At the start of day two, a carload of students shows up 20 minutes late. One [...]

Designing With Curves

Getting off the straight path can be liberating. I can see it with my eyes shut: a curving stretch of highway snaking past Otter Cliffs in Acadia National Park. Each twist in the road opens up a [...]

Walnut Coffee Table

Simple joinery allows (time to add) cool design details. I like traditional joinery, and I enjoy working with hand tools. But I also like completing a project without having it drag on because [...]

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