Crossing the divide
The mission is to design and build fine custom furniture, using solid wood, with some shop-sawn veneers and certain extraordinary commercial veneers. The core philosophy is to use traditional furniture making techniques to build refined, contemporary furniture. Traditional furniture making techniques have been around for hundreds of years. They have proven effective through time with pieces of furniture that have lasted for hundreds of years. However, modern tools and techniques are also embraced, as required, for the sake of efficiency and to remain current.
Through experience, this combination of old and new is used to create distinctive pieces of uncompromising quality designed to graceful last a lifetime. To borrow a basic concept of sustainability, the pieces, at the minimum, should be designed and built to last at least as long as the tree lived from which the wood was taken.
The process further combines the traditional craft of woodworking with the art of design. There is a responsibility to make things aesthetic as well as well built. What is the point of a scrupulously crafted piece if it has not been touched by art to evoke an emotional response, please the eye, or create attachment with the audience?
René has been crafting work in wood professionally for over 20 years. Starting out self-taught using only hand tools, then experimenting with a brief stint timber framing. In 2004, studying Fine Woodworking at Selkirk College in Nelson, BC became the springboard for nurturing a continuing passion for fine woodworking. His craft was further refined in a handful of shops in British Columbia’s interior.
Now located in scenic Canmore, Alberta among the peaks, wildlife and wilderness of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Surroundings that provide ample inspiration and motivation to create finely crafted and carefully designed pieces of functional wooden art.
