The Cedar Sea

I found irony in having my two associates Max and Moose, both island boys (Max from Australia and Moose from Montserrat), surrounded by a sea of the cedar tables I built for the new Nuba restaurant. It opens soon on West Broadway in Vancouver.

Saving Daylight

For years while working in film I would get to work before the sun had broken the eastern horizon and get home long after it had descended in the west. I would spend the majority of my day in cavernous warehouse shops often without windows or in dark studios. I lived my life under artificial light.

Today I awoke to bright sunshine coming through my window and worked with the shop's garage bay door wide open. I stopped on my way home for a late lunch and ate it at an outside table wishing I owned sunglasses. Surviving winter instills a feeling of victory. Actually seeing the sun and feeling too warm in a sweater become sensations of triumph. I am thankful to be allowed these small but important moments.

It's gonna be okay

It’s going to be okay.

I used to get worked into a state of unbridled stress. Trying to manage under deadlines and working 12 hour days and then forgetting to eat. These days (though I still do my share of overtime) I know that whatever it is, it will get done. There’s never been instance in the past when something hasn’t gotten done. There is always a solution and stress diminishes my ability to see just what that solution might be. It compounds problems and I make mistakes. Usually really stupid mistakes involving addition or subtraction.

So with a deadline fast approaching—a restaurant opening—I am doing my best to take care of myself. I believe my health is directly reflected in the work I do. Above all I know it’s going to be okay…

The base of a cedar banquet

East Van Table Factory and Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott’s words, “Bird by bird”, resonated and repeated in my head today as I continued gluing up and sanding the three dozen tables I’m building for the latest Scott Cohen designed restaurant.

Bird by Bird

Table by Table

I could get philosophical about all this but that would only complicate a simple job.

….and tomorrow Table by Table…

Table by

table by

table (Final two glued up!)

Waldorf Diaries--The Genius of Pushpins

My job is creative in nature. I find creative solutions to design and construction problems. It is still, however, very much a job and I need creative outlets outside of the shop environment. The reason I moved into the Waldorf Hotel was to simplify my life in order to focus attention on a particular project and over all this has been successful. Over the past month or two, however, I’ve found myself working in the shop much more than in my hotel room and I’m beginning to feel the imbalance.

Though I had not planned on going into the shop today I stopped in long enough to build a quick bulletin board. I took it back to the hotel, put the first Neu! album on repeat, and began laying out some of my notes for the project. I gathered up the pieces of paper from all the flat surfaces in my small space and with a fresh package of pushpins I organized them where I could see them. Now I feel connected and less overwhelmed by the scope of what I’ve gotten myself into. I have a visual representation of progress and the rabbit hole appears to have a map.

A start...

The Staircase Install

Once something is built it will either fit or it won't so worrying about it is pointless. I woke up this morning feeling calm and focused knowing I had done everything I was capable of to make the morning staircase installation as smooth as possible. I had six guys showing up to help me lift it into position and with their help it was a painless operation. Much easier than I had anticipated. I'm really trying not seem surprised.

Stephen Hamm, one of my industrious associates

The cardboard on the outside face is to protect the veneer until it's clear coated

Mortised stair treads

Top view to the bottom platform that is going to get covered in Italian marble

Work is Worship

“Work is worship.”  Mahatma Ghandi

A dear of friend of mine who is helping me out in the shop brought this quote to my attention today and I can’t stop thinking about it. Labor for most of us is inevitable and necessary to survival. Coming from a long family lineage of organized labor I’ve always understood the value of work and the ethics behind it. The idea of work as a spiritual pursuit is relatively new to me but over the past few years it has become increasingly relevant. I have a very clear choice to either hate my job or alternatively try to bring something to it. These days I’m fortunate to both be doing something I’m good at and that I enjoy. Even when I have to do jobs that I have no real interest in doing (usually out of financial necessity) I try and find a connection outside myself that helps me appreciate beauty in the job—like the perfect corner of two 45 degree angles. Granted this much easier said than done but nobody said worship is easy.

An Education

My formal post secondary education is limited. I’ve attended a few colleges, taken classes at University extension programs, and I went to design school long enough to learn the fundamental ideas (and enough time to know I’d never be a draughtsman). At times my lack of a university degree has led to feelings of inadequacy. This usually occurred when surrounded by people at a party discussing their dissertations. What I have come to learn is people absorb information in different ways. I internalize knowledge best from first hand experience and a tactile approach to education. I am sensory motivated and if I can see, hear, and touch something I am more likely to understand and learn. Much of what I know has come from books I have read but reading about La Sagrada Familia and looking at photos of the Gaudi masterpiece is very different from getting vertigo climbing the narrow steps in one of its towers. I’ll take vertigo over a lecture hall any day.