I always begin my custom projects with a simple conversation. Typically, it’s not even about wood or furniture. Rather, our words dart about how we live together, how our kids like to tear around the house when family is visiting, what vacation plans we all have coming up, and so on. And very often, it’s about the powerful impact of our parents.
...we reserve our deepest reverences for the trees.
I’ve found that the clients I’m so lucky to have worked with have a common thread; a sense of honor to those who have meant so many things to them along the way.
That’s the formidable influence of raw wood, the shaping of possibilities, and the reach of nostalgia. The wise ones who influence us as we ourselves are trying our best to shape our own future tend to come around during our “woody” conversations.
Please note, most of my clients are not of the Xbox generation. They, along with myself, have seen the magic of technology and the grind of progress. And this is probably why the elusiveness of wood brings these thoughts of warm regard to the surface. Because despite what we’ve seen in the past, the grounding power of a piece of wood, sculped by an artist, sitting right there in our living room is something true.
Of course, this is absolutely true for any handmade piece. Yet wood, drawing from hundred-thousand-year-old-memories downloaded over time, offers a clarity that very few materials around us deliver.
We might pat a sturdy trunk as we walk by on a hike or gaze breathlessly at a grand forest vista. But we reserve our deepest reverences for the trees.
This is what powers the Stumpf approach to woodcraft. Let’s give reverence together.
-Steve