I have been involved in woodworking in some fashion, since before I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are of pounding random nails and screws into an old stump; in what my father referred to as, ‘hammer practice’; while he loaded materials and machinery into his work-truck. Growing up in a small village in rural South Jersey, I spent quite a bit of time underfoot in the workshop or on the job site, playing in piles of sawdust or making off with my father’s tools. I hadn’t known it at the time, but that was where an early understanding; and indeed love; for the practice of designing and building physical things, began to develop.  I learned a lot working for my father’s general contracting business up through high school, college, and beyond…not the least of which were a sense of hard-work, determination and a commitment to uncompromising quality in the job being performed. The near constant exposure to new processes and methods of construction, the experience of working with different materials in a multitude of surroundings, and the understanding of geometry and physical form that comes with watching a structure take shape in an empty space all informed my young mind; and bred an affinity that has stayed with me, throughout life.