Some of my artist friends can think up great ideas during a long walk, or maybe with a nice hot cup of tea. I usually do best when I am deep in my work, absorbed by the moment. For me, it’s really about trying to reach an elevated place of thinking, where feeling and doing become the same thing. I call it thinking with my hands.

I don’t seem to operate like too many furniture makers I know, planning out each piece from start to finish. I rely on the building process to bring me closer to my ideas. I like to start with a simple sketch rather than an elaborate drawing. Once I have a good sketch I am usually ready to build. I like to see myself as a translator. My job is to decipher the character and flavor of my drawings, hoping to communicate the essence of my marks and scribbles. I might find inspiration from a particular quality of line, or maybe it’s a shape or gesture. In any case, this becomes my guiding lightas I work.

For the most part, I work with wood. I say “with” because I am interested in the shared relationship between craftsmanship and idea, between the medium and the message. Technical proficiency without a good idea is just as bad as having great ideas and not knowing how to put things together. There are so many reasons why people make furniture. For me it is a combination: the excitement of certainty and uncertainty. Someone once told me that walking is a combination of falling and recovering, falling and recovering, and so on. This is how I approach what I do, hoping that the steps I take bring about balance and an object of beauty, meaning, and usefulness.

Watermelon Table
Jelutong
31 x 37 x 14.5"
$6000