I began woodworking as a self-taught hobbyist, making furniture for family and friends from published plans before gradually developing my own designs. Norm Abram was an important influence in those early years through his books and The New Yankee Workshop. As I spent more time in the shop, woodworking grew from an interest into a passion—and eventually into the possibility of a very different life.

Before woodworking became my primary pursuit, I spent more than 30 years in science and chemistry, earning a doctorate in chemistry and working for 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry. In 2012, I left the security of the corporate world to devote myself more fully to woodworking and created Alchemy Woodshop.

The name reflects both my chemistry background and the larger transformation that woodworking represents in my life: the transformation of an idea into a design, raw wood into a finished object, and one chapter of life into another. My work is influenced by the quiet simplicity of Shaker furniture and the craftsmanship of the Arts and Crafts tradition, while continuing to evolve through my own exploration of form, proportion, and technique.

My wife, Jackie, and I now live on a rural property in Vermont with our dog, Finn, and our cats, Jasper and Loki. I work from a carriage house that we converted into my woodshop, where I continue to pursue woodworking, original design, and the challenge of making each piece thoughtful, useful, and distinctly my own.