ATWilliams

Working with wood has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. As a child I used to watch my father tinker around in his little shop in the basement in our home in north Philadelphia, that interest followed me all through life. The love of woodworking magnified all through High School where I learned to carve wood and began to realize there was more to woodworking than just 4 leg Oak or Maple tables.

I chose the realm of “Functional Art”, which loosely translated is “Furniture as art”, because it gives you art that you can not only look at, but also make functional use of. It was also a natural choice for me because I needed a method of combining my two favorite loves, One of a kind furniture, and exotic wood inlay. I’m often asked why I’m so obsessed with the exotics and my answer is always the same; Imagine cutting into a tree and seeing the bright red of a South American Red heart tree or the jet black of an India Ebony tree or the stunning snake skin appearance of the Australian Lacewood tree just to name a few. In America, most peoples idea of exotic wood is Walnut or Cherry ..

During my travels around the world in the military I discovered not only that there was more than just oak and maple, but there were thousands of woods from all over the word in hundreds of brilliant colors and I was hooked beyond return. My goal then became to put my hands on as many of those exotic’s as I could. I wanted to Carve them, Build with them,, and moreover,
I wanted to paint with them. I’ve never been able to paint with traditional paints, but I new I could create pictures using the natural colors found in the exotic woods from all over the world, and what a better canvas than the one of a kind furniture I wanted to build.

And so the board was set, I could combine my love of nature and the outdoors with my obsession with art, exotic wood, music and creativity to Create the pieces contained within these pages ………….. Its been a 25 year journey.

Please Enjoy my Obsession ………. (-:

Gender: Male