This box came about as a commission to build something out of what little was left of an old family piano after it had been irreparably damaged. Unfortunately, the body of the piano couldn’t be salvaged; however, the ebony and ivory keys were still in great shape. The idea was to try and capture the spirit of the piano, if not the look.

The box itself is made with shop-sawn rosewood and narra veneer, with black-key ebony edgebanding and white-key ivory inlay. There are three stacking, dovetailed trays inside.

Dimensions: 12″ x 7″ x 5″
Materials: Honduran Rosewood, Narra, Recycled Ebony and Ivory Piano Keys
Finish: Oil/Varnish (outside), Shellac Polish (inside)

Check out more pictures of the box here.

Detail of the drawer joinery.

Detail of removable trays. Each tray has a hinged "floor" with an attached tab to facilitate removal of your stationary; that way, you don't have to turn the tray over to get the cards out.

This piece came about after re-watching one of my favorite movies, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. There is a line at some point where Steve Zissou mentions to his wife Eleanor that they need to write a thank-you note to Eleanor’s parents “on the good correspondence stock.”

It seemed to me that good correspondence stock should have an appropriate place to live, so I built this box. The sides are dovetailed by hand, and the lid is frame-and-panel. There are two asymmetrical drawers built in to the front of the box - a smaller one for pens, and a larger one for stamps. The interior of the box houses two removable trays, one slightly larger than the other. The smaller tray holds standard 4 1/4″ x 6 3/8″ cards (such as Crane’s or Smythson’s), and the larger tray holds the corresponding envelopes. Each tray has a small brass tab you can use to pull the stationary out of the tray.

The box is made out of Kwila. The trays and drawer sides are made out of Afzelia. All brass hardware (besides the hinges) is shop-made. The bottoms of the drawers are made from Port Orford Cedar, giving the box a nice small when you pull out the drawers. The exterior is finished with Liberon Oil, and the interior is polished with shellac and wax. All in, there are nearly 400 hours in this box.

Dimensions: 11 1/2″ x 8″ x 4″
Materials: Kwila, Afzelia, Brass, Port Orford Cedar
Finish: Liberon Oil, Shellac, Wax

Currently on display at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. Please contact the Asher Gallery (713.529.4848) for details.

The walnut used for this project came from my friends at Horizon Lumber in Pennsylvania. There is nothing quite like starting a project with such such an inspiring piece of wood in front of you...

The box is a actually a set of four boxes: the outer box (in walnut), and the three inner boxes (in pear.) The inner boxes all have removable inserts to maximize storage options.

Part of the design criteria was that you be able to both charge and play an iPod without removing it from the box. A set of removable, shop-made plywood inserts allows the player to either be stored flat of plugged into the Dock. Cutouts in the back of the box allow wires to run where they need to.

Detail. Dovetailed construction for the boxes, frame-and-panel for the lid.

This piece was built as a commission. The requirements were fairly simple: the piece had to hold a small collection of CDs, and be able to store (and charge) an iPod. The idea was to keep the design both simple and modular (just in the off-chance that iPods change size in the future), and let the wood speak for itself.

Dimensions: 24″L x 12″D x 8″ H
Materials: Walnut, Pear
Finish: Liberon Oil (Walnut), Shellac (Pear), Wax

Click here to see more pictures of the box, as well as construction photos.

The box itself is joined with internally-splined miters, and edged with silver. Lined inserts hold the ring in place. The silver inlay in the lid is drilled all the way through the top.

Box with lid closed. All four sides come from one small piece of Macassar Ebony.

The top is inlaid with various gauges of silver wire. The pattern itself represents the map of the sky on the evening of January 18, 2007

The silver banding around the edges are mitered and "riveted" into place with silver wire.

This is a small box I made for someone very special to me. My friend Alan Cable designed and made the ring at his workshop here in Houston. By all means check out his website here. Anyway, I built the box to commemorate a truly excellent day (and more importantly, she said yes.)

Dimensions: 3″ x 2″ x 2″
Materials: Macassar Ebony, African Ebony, Sterling Silver
Finish: Carnauba Wax

The sides, lid, and bottom of the box are made from one piece of 150 year-old Longleaf Pine, a species once found throughout the southeastern United States and Gulf Coast and historically used for ships, spars, bridges, flooring, and railroad carriages. The wood is hard, durable, and has a nice...well, pine scent.

The pegs, which lock the lid into place, are made from Texas Ebony, a species native to southwestern Texas. The inside of the box is lined with a velvet pad, making it ideal for jewelry storage. The lid itself is reversible, and the pins are interchangeable. The original salvaged floor joist is shown below the box.

The idea behind this piece was to make a small jewelry box whose decorative elements all derive from a particular function: the notched keys are left extended to facilitate their removal; the shaped top serves as finger-grips when opening and closing the lid; the exposed box joints on the corners provide an extremely strong and long-lasting connection.

The design of the box was completely driven by the wood itself. Rather than using an exotic (and most likely endangered) species, I thought it would be nice to use local, reclaimed wood, in this case, longleaf pine. The heavy grain pattern of the pine lent itself to a sort of Japanese aesthetic, which in turn informed the joinery and details I used. Plus, I was excited to make something out of wood that literally came from Houston.

This is a small box I built from a 2×6 floor joist (pictured below the box) salvaged by Historic Houston, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting local historic architecture. The pine does a number on the machines, but it takes a polish well.

Dimensions: 9 1/4″ x 3″ x 2 1/4″
Materials: Reclaimed Quatersawn Longleaf Pine, Texas Ebony, Velvet Liner
Finish: Shellac, Carnauba Wax