Paula Garbarino

I am a lifelong committed woodworker with a passion to create beautiful useful objects of the highest caliber. A full-time artisan in a one-person business, I build both custom ordered pieces and art furniture. My designs consider aesthetic principles of line, mass, proportion, balance, color and texture; the product is then crafted with notable precision of execution. Whether informed by historical precedent or innovative with current ideas, my furniture is built to last hundreds of years using the best time-tested construction principles. Clients seeking custom furniture require special attention. Together the client and I investigate styles that reflect individual taste and suit home or office. If desired, I provide the client with research on period forms and motifs, gathering photos and ideas from printed materials and museum collections. We discuss multiple design options or possible configurations and review wood specie choices followed by a careful wood selection for color, balance, and form. Possible construction techniques might include hand-cut dovetails, mortise and tenon joinery, complex veneering with solid-core quartered stock, bricking, bent laminations, and sculpted forms. Possible decorative elements include marquetry, inlay, carving, and turnings. Recent work reflects my increased interest in late 19th century and early 20th century design: Gothic Revival, Aesthetic Movement, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Various commissions have included inlays of pearl, metal, and/or semi-precious stone as well as marquetry and bas-relief marquetry.