Computer aided design has been a part of my life since High School, but never could I imagine that I’d have the means to fabricate anything my mind could think up. This all changed when I started working in CNC machining. I spent fifty hours a week for almost four years fabricating incredibly intricate geometries at a mold shop in Melrose Park. In some sense this was the beginning of my journey into the world of tangible visual arts.
It showed me that I could make anything, literally ANYTHING, I put my mind to.
I soon bought, assembled, and upgraded my own little wood router. On this very humble little tool I cut a large number of gifts and commissions. Some pieces were cut from thrift store plaques, cutting boards, and coasters, others from slices of a branch from a downed tree in my neighborhood. I never took money for any of these. They were the start, the beginning, the first projects that helped hone my skills and define my process.