“Birth is an experience that demonstrates that life is not merely function and utility, but form and beauty.” ~ Christopher Largen
Living in the Northwest means an elongated Spring and slow start to Summer. Although the misty days of rain, overcast, and sporadic sunlight lend their own kind of slant to thought, there is a distinct benefit to being eased with such clemency from season to season. Here in the Pacific NW, it means an attenuation to changes, subtle change, that elsewhere might feel rushed, sudden, indiscreet. For me, the lingering spring is a time to look around and contemplate anew the shape and beauty of the world, to sit up and listen and take note of what is being born, what’s made new, what’s bursting forth.
Everywhere in nature is a certain inexplicable symmetry, so pleasing to the eye and so complex. In all our attempts to represent this, it is my opinion that one comes closest to beauty in mimicking the seemingly effortless form and mystery of nature. Take, for instance, the profound beauty of the Koa Tree as it grows, indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands:
Or the Cherry Tree, replete with blossoms:
Any attempt to comment on the beauty of nature as it occurs so generously, squandering itself on our eyes, must simply expose that which already exists in a way that shows off the very form of the material itself. As a part of my philosophy, I am always trying to echo the beauty and symmetry of the world around me in the most effortless, natural way possible. I want my pieces to start with the beautiful flow of the wood, and from there, to make subtle suggestions that don’t distract from the function of the piece. Whether grain matching in exotic hardwoods, or hiding the mechanism so that a piece has perfect “flow,” the beauty of nature is one of the bases of inspiration for my work.
