About me

My Story

I have a few spinal surgeries to thank for my woodworking skills. Before the surgeries, my creative medium was music-- recording, mixing, producing, and playing. But doing all that involves sitting, and sitting just doesn’t do for a back that’s falling apart. With woodworking, I can be in a constant state of oblivious motion. This creative motion distracts me from the trouble of existing within this rather faulty-but-amazing physical vehicle.

Growing up I worked in construction, all aspects of building a home. In the construction field, I developed the skills and principle understandings that every builder needs to shape a solid well-made structure.

Using those construction skills, I helped my friend Ryan design and build a beautiful Seattle-area restaurant into work of art. The odds were against Ryan throughout this effort, but together we built his dream with our bare hands, through trial and error, only from our own art and designs. Creating that singularly beautiful place out of nothing but our ideas genuinely inspired me. And so I just kept at it.

There is an intoxicating beauty that comes from sculpting a natural thing. Woods each have a special character. Working with hardwoods was initially scary, each with completely different density, hardness, and willful personalities, each of them stubborn and accommodating in their unique ways. I recall that I was nervous buying my first hardwood from a real wood shop. They were the usual suspects- cherry, oak and walnut, things we all know.

It was with the walnut that I realized it wanted to be made into a specific thing. I listened. Working with the different woods over time, I learn the various conditions they experienced and adapted to while growing. These adaptations have molded their character, and with that understanding, the wood and I decide together what they can become next.

Today I work with mostly exotic woods, such as purple heart, padauk, wenge, morado, curapay, bocote and others. My art currently includes wall hangings, tea trays, sculpture, bookshelves, desks, tables and chairs, and customized stereo cabinets. These forms change when the wood tells me what it wants to become something different. Or sometimes when someone makes a special request.

Communicating the beauty of nature through my appreciation for the character of wood brings me greatest pleasure, both physically and psychologically. I really do hope you will enjoy my art!

--Brandon Cook