"As a furniture designer/maker, I work both to my own designs and to the designs of others. I enjoy sorting through the design possibilities, the preferred options - what's impossible from what's merely difficult. I think that this is the main strength of someone who works with materials and techniques all the time, just knowing what you can get away with. but it is also why I think that it is important to design with others.

It's very easy to see a construction problem coming up and to design around it, when you could let the design stand and overcome the problem. Working with someone else forces you to justify the changes.

Working to a commission means that boundaries have been set; there are specific problems to solve.

In a sense, when you are making furniture for a living, every project is a commission, it's just that sometimes, if you are selling through a retailer, you may not know who the client is. That can make it pretty hard.

For that reason, working with a client to arrive at a design that satisfies their needs is always a special pleasure."