The clients, whom I have installed custom designed mantels for in their Pacific Northwest homes, have often said that their guests are directly attracted to the hearth environment because of the contemporary design elements. Custom mantel surrounds and fireplace shelves help to visually complete the cheerful setting and modern style of the home. The rich use of various hardwoods and high relief carving engage the senses. The heritage of the mantel surround has the tradition of side columns, which I have coopered into wood cylinders and in some cases used modular ceramics in others. I often use the natural soft lines of the landscape in my designs and avoid straight stiff lines made from boards.  Mantel shelves are typically used over small insert gas stoves when a bold horizontal form is needed. I typically construct mantel shelves as a hollow structure so that they are light in weight, plus they don’t develop large drying cracks over time as the massive sawn log shelves do.

The chandelier lighting over a dining table area is another visually interesting point of emphasis in the living environment, which can present art glass.  It clearly indicates if the homeowner is a market place purchaser or a collector of art furniture. I try to design custom lighting pieces that are one-of-a kind and therefore do not reference the common or the typical solution to the functional problem. When I incorporate fused glass into chandeliers with multiple colors and hidden light sources, the viewer is engaged by the three dimensional structure that floats overhead. I bring the visual language of art glass into the function and often utilize the qualities of art deco lighting, which embodies geometry.