By blending traditional writing desk materials with contemporary laptop-based programmatic needs, the desk’s surface is allowed to break, creating a relationship between surface and structure--pattern and form--that unites the composition.
Walnut thinly separating leather panels
Original design drawing
Leather Upholstered Buckle Chair to go with desk; frame salvaged, new and redesigned upholstery
Finishing the Walnut frame; skeletal without its leather skin.
This table/stool—part of a series—is realized through the interaction between material and its environment. Using the directionality of wood grain and its inherent chatoyant properties, the patterned surface activates with the light of its environment; with the movement of the viewer. The pattern shifts and breaks its cubic boundaries as one moves around it.
The true potential of Chatoyance is in large scale rotational wall panel/room dividers. Challenging the traditional definition of furniture in a space, these panels bring movement through pattern and action into the space through the user's interaction. The following versions are just a few of the many possibilities this system can employ to create and define space much as traditional 'furniture' does now.
Each piece is methodically numbered to a generated pattern and hand-cut and affixed to the surface.
Landing somewhere between traditional table and bench height, these table/stool’s defy traditional architypes. This dimensional ambiguity conjures saddle or pummel horses, lean-to’s, and textile display apparatuses rather than tables. The intricate surface—created from individually hand-cut marquetry pieces—shifts and changes planes, blending surface and structure to create a dialogue between program and aesthetics.
Cherry, Walnut, Mahogany, and Maple veneer wrap around the surface to create this integrated pattern. The legs and drawer handle elements of the piece seamlessly blend into the pattern on account of their material likeness and integration into the pattern.
Cardboard and paper make the full-scale model, complete with conte crayon drawn pattern
Bristle is part of the ambiguous table/stool series. Created out of walnut and hog-hair brushes, the piece offers a tactility in finish along with its ambiguity in form. The smooth, waxed and ebonized walnut juxtaposes the bristle of the brush. Like the Changing Planes and Chatoyance pieces before it, the ambiguity in form allows for use of all surfaces for either a seating or setting surface.
The Tartan bench is a different take on the same methods employed in the Changing Planes table/stools. Here however, large sections of wood veneer were died, hand-cut into small strips, and applied to the generated pattern. The resulting effect is a dimensional weave of pattern, much like a tartan fabric achieves with the weave of color.
The Tartan Bench required an extensive amount of color research. Hundreds of wood--Maple, Cherry, & Walnut--samples were dyed using color-fast dye. Subtle shades in color were necessary to achieve the illusion of wood passing over and under similar to a tartan fabric.
numerous dyed Veneers were required to achieve the subtle changes in color throughout the pattern
The complex patterned surface of the Tartan bench was designed on the computer and transferred to the surface of the piece manually. This pattern aided in the creation of the fully realized color 'tartan' pattern.
Continuous Lines is a cabinet that plays with the repetition of pattern and its relationship to finish and the environment it occupies. The structure of the cabinet is steel finished in a gold leaf; the paneling is high gloss Jatoba. This cabinet interacts with light and its environment in a fantastic way; the glow of the material always changing with the environment.
The BB Chair was a collaboration between myself and a textiles student. The result is an integrated and woven structure; textile and furniture blend to create a harmonious chair. The textile was hand-woven with dimensional 'pockets' to later accommodate the walnut bent laminated structure. The chair is held together by walnut ends, CNC'd and finished by hand. This chair was shown at the 2017 Salone de Mobile and ICFF
As seen in:
http://blog.dwr.com/2017/05/30/icff-2017-a-for-student-work/
https://www.interiordesign.net/articles/13173-risd-students-rethink-soft-furniture-at-icff/
The BB Chair was featured in Interior Design Magazine April 2017 along with the work of my fellow RISD classmates. The BB chair was also featured in the Design Within Reach Blog:
http://blog.dwr.com/2017/05/30/icff-2017-a-for-student-work/
The collaboration between textiles and furniture meant a precision in communicative design drawings. Here, chair measurements were given to my textiles partner so she could accurately design the pattern within the weave
The Spacing of the chair was pivotal as each interior wood element needed to relate to a woven chanel in the fabric.
AutoCAD schematic of Quadro Table; plan, elevation, and section
Concept Sketch
Hand rendered pencil over CAD drawing print
Concept drawing for an Art Deco Inspired Chandelier; Conté Crayon and ink on paper
Rhino Model; color is representational of cast glass elements
Cast Glass with internal veining developed exclusively for this fixture
Cast Glass mold A
Machined metal fixture structure
Concept drawing for Mirror—hand rendered pen over an AutoCAD print
Concept for a cabinet A—malachite orb with bronze panels in a wood frame; AutoCAD and hand rendered Pen
Concept for a cabinet B—malachite orb with bronze panels in a wood frame; AutoCAD and hand rendered Pen
Mineral and Stone Veneer Cabinet
Concept rendering for a color block stone veneer cabinet; Pen and Pencil over a CAD file print
Concept Fabric Stool; pen and conté crayon on paper
Cabinet concept drawing; pen on trace paper
A collection of work completed before RISD. Each piece demonstrates a concept, process, or material I discovered. I discovered the chatoyant properties of wood and pattern for instance—a discovery I would later use in the piece ‘chatoyance’ at RISD.
The intense amount of pattern work was what brought me to RISD and what I explored further while there. Here, pattern is largely applied; my time at RISD found the integration of pattern and surface, blurring our understanding of the traditional and possible applications of pattern in furniture and, in a larger context, architecture and the interior.
This placemat is a performative piece, looking at the idea of the temporal in relation to pattern, material, and craft.
Hand cut and laid veneer is used to create a complex patterned placemat. Ice dishes were then cast to slowly melt, taking their toll on the craft.
The performative nature of the piece comments on time invested in craft and this relation to contemporary art, design, commerce, and craft.
thousands of hand-cut and pieced marquetry pieces create these star covered surfaces. Utilizing the natural chatoyant properties of wood, each piece of a star catches the light with its distinct grain direction, moving the pattern around the surface with light and the perspective of the viewer. The dresser shimmers.
the Astoria Bar seen here in its initial design sketch, was a project using the chatoyant properties of wood in pattern. The pattern moves as you do around the piece.
This piece utilizes the chatoyance of both the birch and walnut to created movement within the pattern.
The Rome cabinet investigates wrapping pattern and how it can play with the composition of a piece.
This project was an exploration in found object transformation. The dresser, seen here in its found state, was transformed through surface pattern. A traditional form activates with wrapping pattern.
This was the first patterned marquetry piece I created. hundreds of hand cut and placed veneer pieces create this lattice pattern, wrapping the structure
The sketch seen here is for a engineered Macassar Ebony veneer patterned desk (wood veneer printed with dyes to appear as Macassar Ebony)
Various Projects demonstrating the work I have done in Landscape Design
All landscape designs include: plan, sections, and elevations, renderings, hardscape, water, electrical, and light schematics, along with plant and hardscape schedules
MKK Landscape and Park Plan—AutoCAD plan with photoshop shadows and illustrator watercolor overlays
MKK Hardscape and Residence Elevation; the residence sits on top a hill, requiring terracing to integrate the programmatic needs with the natural site
overlay sketch—during the design process-figuring out the pool and dining terraces immediately abutting the residence
Plan showing the hardscape and park landscaping. The site is a beautiful oak topped hill. The goal for this landscaping: integrate the house and hardscape programmatic needs as gently as possible. Designed native meadows and plantings mix with the native oaks to create a transition between the natural and built, the hard and soft.
Detail Showing a driveway retaining wall containing recessed lighting; typical level of detail my architectural plans reach
Detail 2 of the MKK driveway wall
A quick Google Earth concept sketch overlay for the client; I use mixed media throughout my design practice—optimizing techniques dependent upon each client’s project. Overlays such as this I have found to be very helpful in conveying proposed project scope and scale
plan and section of a sunken garden—Phase 2— showing the detailed brick pattern wall. Here, multiple brick shapes are combined to create patterns, depth, and texture
plan view of the proposed sunken garden—Phase 2. Steps from the main terrace take you down into a sunken garden, DG and Arbors to the left, Lawn to the right. the focal point of the sunken terrace is a large hedge—creating a truly enclosed, private retreat—and water lilly and Papyrus pond.
Arial shot showing phase one of the project completed. Seen here, the fenced rose and vegetable garden give way to dining terraces with a view of the native oak and redwood forest
larger plan and section showing the scope and complete brick patterned wall—Phase 2
dining terrace with forest in the background
forest viewed from the lower terrace
Tobacco nocturne mixes with sunflowers and pumpkins to create a sensory and egalitarian flower/vegetable garden
Red and green Amaranth spill over the garden fence
Example drawings created in sketchbooks, in the field, at a drafting table, and on a canvass.
Collage (I believe collage an amazing sketching tool and often use it)
Pen on paper
Pencil on Paper
Copic Markers on Paper
Ballpoint Pen on Paper
Pencil on Paper
Pencil on Paper
Pencil on Paper
Pencil on paper
Photo Pencil on Brown Paper
Conté Crayon on Paper
Photo Pencil on paper
Conté Crayon on Paper
Ballpoint Pen on Paper
Conté Crayon and Ink wash on Paper
Copic Marker and Colored Pencil on Paper
Colored Pencil and Ink on Paper
Architectural ideation example; ink on paper
Architectural programmatic mapping example; ink and colored pencil on paper
Pen and Conté Crayon on Brown paper
Pencil on Paper
Pencil, Pen, & Gold foil on Brown Paper
Ink on Trace Paper
Ink and Gold Foil on Brown Paper
Wine Label Art; Gold Leaf on Paper
