Est. Pennsylvania · Small studio

The tree gets the last word.

Bowls, boxes, furniture, and guitars — cut, turned, and joined from highly figured hardwoods and burls. Every piece keeps the story of the tree it came from.

See the work Commission a piece
Pieces made
200+
Species worked
40+
Years turning
20+
A Federal-style satinwood demilune card table with brass inlay, holding a lead crystal bowl, on a studio-black background.

The philosophy

Nature’s art, metamorphosized by hand.

Every project begins as pieces of highly prized figured wood — burl, curl, quilt, chatoyance — shapes and colors the tree already spent decades making. My job is to listen to what the wood is doing and coax it into a form worthy of it: hand-cut joinery, hand-turned vessels, finishes rubbed on in layers.

These are not production pieces. They’re heirlooms — furniture, bowls, boxes, and cabinets meant to be handed down. And they’re art. When a piece catches your eye across the room, the reaction should go deeper than “that’s pretty.” The wood should speak.

Selected work

A menagerie of work.

A cross-section of what has come out of the shop — bowls, boxes, furniture, cabinets, doors, and guitars. New pieces get added as they're finished; process shots live on Instagram.

Deep red burl bowl with a wide rim, on studio black. Bowls Dreadnought guitar body glued up on the bench — spruce top on ebony sides. Guitars Quilted maple lid inset in a curly walnut carcass with ebony inlay. Boxes Curly walnut sideboard with tiger maple drawer fronts, on studio black. Tables Golden burl hollow-form vessel on studio black. Bowls Molten gold quilted maple humidor top. Boxes Brother hall table — floating quilted maple top on curly walnut base, on studio black. Hall tables Side profile of a guitar body being routed for the binding channel. In progress Walnut sideboard open drawer with hand-cut dovetails and tiger maple front, on studio black. Detail Red-orange burl ring vessel with a natural bark void, on studio black. Shop Federal card table in quilted mahogany with a lead crystal bowl on top, on studio black. Furniture Curly cherry dining table with upholstered chairs, on studio black. Case pieces

See more on Instagram

The pieces

What we create.

Deep red burl bowl with a wide rim, on studio black.

01

Bowls & Vessels

Hand-turned on the lathe from big leaf maple burl, claro walnut burl, red mallee, and whatever gorgeous chunk has been waiting to be opened up. Each one is finished to feel as good as it looks.

  • Common speciesBig leaf maple burl · Claro walnut burl · Red mallee · Vasticola burl · Tiger maple · Curly black walnut
  • SizesPalm-sized to 16"
  • FinishFood-safe oil & wax, or hardwax oil

See the bowls gallery

Quilted maple lid inset in a curly walnut carcass with ebony inlay.

02

Boxes & Humidors

Small-scale case pieces where the figure of the wood is the whole point. Quilted maple lids, mitered walnut carcasses, hand-cut joinery, brass hardware, and interiors lined with Spanish cedar or velvet.

  • JoineryHand-cut miters, splined corners
  • InteriorsSpanish cedar, aromatic cedar, felt
  • HardwareSolid brass, hand-forged iron

See the boxes gallery

Curly walnut sideboard with tiger maple drawer fronts and brass hardware, on studio black.

03

Furniture

Case pieces, tables, huntboards, cabinets, and beds — built to be handed down. Live-edge slabs when the tree gives us something to work with, and traditional joinery throughout.

  • ExamplesSideboards · Dining tables · Beds · Consoles
  • WoodsCurly walnut · Cherry · Quilted maple · Satinwood · Mahogany
  • JoineryMortise & tenon, dovetails, sliding dovetails

See the furniture gallery

Dreadnought guitar body glued up on the bench — spruce top on ebony sides.

04

Guitars

Steel-string acoustics built one at a time. Spruce and cedar tops, backs and sides in claro rosewood, ebony, or koa. Bound in figured maple. Voiced by hand.

  • Body stylesDreadnought · OM · 000
  • TopsSitka spruce · Adirondack · Western red cedar
  • Back & sidesClaro rosewood · Ebony · Koa · Walnut

Source material

The wood before the work.

Every piece starts with a slab, a chunk of burl, or a stick of figured stock that someone saved from the burn pile. Here's a look at some of the raw material — before, during, and after the first pass with a plane.

Vasticola burl cap, cauliflower-textured tan surface, on studio black.

Featured slab

Vasticola burl · VA-484

A 24 × 13 × 4 inch vasticola burl cap. Photographed dry, then wetted out to preview the finish, then again after cutting and stabilization. The same piece of wood reads almost brown when raw and lights up orange-red the moment finish touches the grain — one of the most transformative species on the shelf.

  • SpeciesVasticola burl
  • Dimensions24" × 13" × 4"
  • StateDry → wetted → cut → finished

Dry → wet → finished

The same slab, in three states, showing how figure comes alive under finish.

Vasticola burl slab, dry, in truck bed. Dry Vasticola burl slab surface, dry, closeup of figure. Dry Vasticola burl slab on sawhorses, marked VA-484 24×13×4. Dry Vasticola burl slab with bark inclusion visible, dry state. Dry Vasticola burl slab wetted out, showing amber orange figure emerging. Wet Vasticola burl slab wetted out, edge shot with molten orange color. Wet Vasticola burl slab, half-wetted, showing dry-to-wet transition. Wet Vasticola burl finished, angled view showing chatoyance. Finished Vasticola burl finished, closeup of eye figure. Finished Vasticola burl finished, showing full figure of the slab. Finished Vasticola burl finished, low-angle raking light. Finished Vasticola burl finished, three-quarter view. Finished

Figured stock

Curly and quilted maple, curly walnut, and the boards that catch light differently every time you turn them.

Quilted maple stock, wetted out showing three-dimensional figure. Quilted maple Curly maple boards under warm raking light, glowing amber with three-dimensional ripple figure. Curly maple Wide curly maple board face, dense ripple figure across the full width. Curly maple Figured walnut slab under finish, curly grain across the face. Curly walnut Curly walnut slab under gloss finish, ripple figure lit up amber-red. Under finish Figured walnut board on the planer, half-planed to reveal curly figure. On the planer Curly walnut board edge, freshly planed, curly figure emerging above raw sawn stock. Freshly planed Curly walnut closeup detail catching raking light. Detail Extreme closeup of curly walnut chatoyance, ribbon figure catching light. Chatoyance Curly walnut surface with wide chatoyant bands shifting from dark to light. Chatoyance Curly walnut slab wetted out, curly figure emerging under water preview. Wetted Curly walnut surface under water preview, ripples showing dimensional figure. Wetted Curly walnut bookmatched detail, ribbon figure mirrored across the joint. Bookmatch Walnut burl under finish, deep pooling figure with soft chatoyance. Walnut burl Rough curly walnut board with wide sweeping ribbon figure. Curly walnut Figured koa slab, warm honey color with tight curl figure. Koa Curly maple board edge, low-angle light showing ripple figure. Curly maple Stack of walnut and figured stock leaning against a shop window. In the shop Stack of figured walnut boards waiting for a project. Stack Long walnut slab with chalk markings labeling figured walnut cuts. Layout Strip layout of curly maple, curly walnut, and lighter maple for a laminated top. Selection

Slabs & live edge

Bookmatched pairs, live-edge slabs marked up with bowtie inlays, and the stickered stacks waiting their turn.

Two live-edge walnut slabs on the table saw with pencil-marked bowtie inlay locations. Live edge Bookmatched live-edge walnut slabs laid out with chalked bowtie inlays. Bookmatch Wide walnut slab top, freshly planed, with subtle chatoyance across the surface. Slab top Stack of bookmatched slabs stickered for drying, live-edge cants stepped out. Stickered Long walnut cants stickered up for drying, bark still on. Drying Wide curly walnut slab under high gloss finish, ribbon figure lit up. Under finish

Other burls

Bits and chunks — some destined for bowls, some still waiting.

Cut vasticola burl chunk on the workbench, raw sawn face. Cut Cut vasticola burl chunk showing internal figure. Cut Vasticola burl chunk cut open, orange interior visible. Cut Vasticola burl chunk cut face, textural closeup. Cut Vasticola burl closeup, deep red figure with resin void. Detail Vasticola burl closeup, glossy finish highlighting eye figure. Detail

Have a piece of wood you want made into something?

The story

Started at my father's bench.

My dad was a furniture maker and a luthier. He handed me my first project when I was nine or ten years old, and I've never really put the tools down since.

By the time I was twenty-two, I had a shop of my own and was building furniture for our young family and taking on commissioned pieces on the side. That was decades ago now. The shop has grown; the reason for it hasn't.

Somewhere along the way I fell for chatoyance — the way figured wood catches light and shifts as you move around it. And I fell harder for burls. You never know what's under the bark. Every one is a small excavation, and the surprises are the whole reason to keep cutting.

The work here is shaped by the makers I grew up admiring: George Nakashima, who let the tree keep the last word, and Thomas Moser, whose joinery still sets the bar for me. Everything I build sits somewhere on the line they drew.

Nothing here is made in batches. If two pieces look similar, it's because they came out of the same tree.

— Greg

Quilted maple slab top with a gaboon ebony bowtie inlay, showing chatoyance in the grain, on studio black.
Quilted maple, close-cropped, with a gaboon ebony bowtie inlay. The reason I keep doing this.

Commissions

Want something one of a kind?

I take on a small number of commissions each year. Come with a piece in mind, or with a wood in mind — I'll help you find the other half of the pair.

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Lead times run 4–16 weeks depending on the piece. A refundable deposit holds a slot.