Collaboration; My wife Lisa Laberge is an Interior Designer and she was asked by The Southern Vermont Arts Center to design one of the galleries as a way to show art and design coming together. The show is called The Design Room: A Collaboration of Art and Design and runs from September 26 – January 8, 2010.

Her room features a few of my pieces of furniture including a custom dining table that is 44" x 108". It is shown at right. The opening reception is Saturday Sept 26 from 4-6 pm.

I am already scheduling a number of shows for 2010. The exhibition Out of the Woods: Works by Northern New England Furniture Makers is scheduled for May 8 through June 15 and will be featured in the Southern Vermont Art Center’s Yester House Gallery. I will also participate in State of Craft, an exhibition at the Bennington Museum in 2010 that honors Vermont craftspeople and the rich history of the studio craft movement here. The exhibition, spanning 50 years in the studio craft movement,  will document Vermont's master artists but will also cover the mix of craft practices and show the progression of craft in the state through the best examples from different decades. The exhibition runs from May 17- November 7, 2010.

There will also be a show with the Guild of Vermont Furniture makers in August and the Artisans of Southern VT in November. Details of those will be coming soon.

Lark Books has published a book called 500 Tables this spring and they have included my Custom Round Mahogany Table. They have published a series of these books and this one has some real interesting designs.

I was recently interviewed by Michael Dresdner for the Woodworker’s Journal e-zine, issue 214. Check out the article Santa Fe meets Japan.

My Enfield Shaker Cupboard has returned home after being on loan first to the Shelburne Museum and then to The Bard Graduate Center in New York City. The show was called Shaker Design: Out of This World, and was a great exhibit on Shaker Style.  Along with fine examples of original Shaker furniture, the exhibit featured contemporary furniture inspired by Shaker design, including pieces by George Nakashima, Thomas Moser and others. The book by the same name has been published by the Yale University Press.

In keeping with my environmental concerns I am pushing the use of responsibly harvested material. I have been certified by FSC to be able to demonstrate the chain of custody for my lumber from forest to furniture. Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a non-profit organization devoted to encouraging the responsible management of the world’s forests. FSC sets high standards that ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial, and economically viable way. Landowners and companies that sell timber or forest products seek certification as a way to verify to consumers that they have practiced forestry consistent with FSC standards. I feel it is important to take steps to insure a healthy environment. I am also testing a variety of water and whey based finishes.

My work has recently been featured in two issues of Fine Woodworking Magazine. The December 2006 issue featured my Blacker House Desk (Blacker house desk url here). The June 2007 issue features two of my Arts & Crafts Screens. My Northshire chair was featured in Arts & Crafts Homes magazine.

You can see a permanent installation of my work the Dominican Church of St. Vincent Ferrer on 66th Street and Lexington Avenue in New York City. The vestibule was made of quartersawn oak and was made to blend in with the original woodwork with hand carved moldings matching other parts of the church.