A life of craftrmanship. Don’s favorite toy as a toddler was a hammer, which he used to joyously bang on many things. He has kept it, as a symbol of his love for building with wood. Today, when building furniture pieces out of want or need, Don designs them with an aesthetic based on clean proportions, scale, style and careful craftsmanship.
Becoming a craftsperson evolved over many years. In junior high school Don was fortunate to participate in a shop class where the teacher was very supportive. Spending time in the family garage, he became skilled at using a table saw but also learned the lesson of “oopsies,” the value of accepting the occasional mistake and the challenge of repairing it.
In college, both as an undergraduate and as a graduate student, he managed to find a shop that he was allowed to use to build some furniture as well as toys for his kids.
Don moved to Hawaii where he spent his career designing scientific instruments to study sunspots and eclipses. He returned to crafting with wood some years later when he and Stephanie moved to Waldport, Oregon. It was there that Don built his cedar-strip kayak. Eventually he and Stephanie moved to Portland where he was able to create his first dedicated wood shop and get serious about learning to build furniture. When they moved from Portland to Rose Villa Don was glad to find a large, well-equipped wood shop and pleased that some of his power tools were acquired by Rose Villa.
The photos shown here are pieces he crafted while living in Oregon.
