Most projects begin with a particular space in a particular home. It can be a dining area that needs a table, or an area in the bedroom that needs an occasional, smallish desk.
The goal is always to create a place for calm and joy; an oasis in the everyday experience of life. There are practical considerations: a table, for instance, should suit the size of the room and not make the space feel cramped. Its edges and corners should feel friendly and the design should encourage the flow of activity in the room. A desk meanwhile, should be a place for repose, a place to gather one’s thoughts or to recover after a long day.
When I meet with a client ( ideally in the actual space of their home ), I listen carefully to what they are looking for, but more importantly, I look for ways that my work can enhance their lives. Of course there is the practical side of the design brief — that a table needs to sit so many people, or a desk should be at such a height that suits the use of a laptop, and so on. But truly what I strive for is beauty and a sense of harmony in the spaces of modern life.
My own sensibility is that design is less about making everything “match” in style, period or color, than more subtle matters of scale–a human scale, as it were–and that the wood selection be appropriate to the use and the mood that we’re trying to create; i.e. a social space for family gatherings, as in a dining room, or a quieter space for solitude and sustained attention, as with a desk.
If a client has a sample photo of a piece that speaks to them, I welcome it. These images often become a starting point for a design process that proceeds with mock-ups, wood samples and a concept drawing. And through this dialogue, between imaginations–things change. Because it’s truly gratifying to hear from clients — once the piece arrives in their home and is set in that particular space — that my work far surpasses what they had initially imagined! That, is what I am after.