BRAND ETHOS

My mission is To uphold and maintain the integrity of the builders, makers, & craftspeople in a way that emphasizes quality over quantity, sensitivity, sustainability & excellent stewardship of material use & consumption. Build the best product every time with uncompromising craftsmanship & do no harm.

I’ve been mesmerized by the process of woodworking since I was a small child watching my skillful father build things in his wood shop. He truly was an incredible craftsman. Although I never got the opportunity to learn the skills under him, those memories as a child are what inspired me to pursue the craft of woodworking. 

I come from a family heritage of crafts and trades, so I suppose it’s no surprise that I ended up here. My ancestors on both sides of my family were woodworkers and blacksmiths. (The photo above is my grandfather, a 3rd generation blacksmith, in his shop at his forge.) In 2008 when I unexpectedly lost my father, my world was left upside down and full of confusion. I then made the decision to pursue the craft of woodworking that I had always wanted, and to carry on his legacy.

Being that fine woodworking is a somewhat uncommon trade/skill or craft in today’s automated mass produced world, I realized I needed to find a school environment to learn the craft. So that’s what I did. I received a degree in Cabinet and Furniture Technology from Palomar College in Southern California.

After I graduated, I set up shop and began taking on custom projects as well working with other furniture makers. After a couple of years I decided it was time to take my craft to the next level, and I applied to the College of the Redwoods Fine Woodworking Program founded by James Krenov. (Now called The Krenov School.) Krenov’s work and writings have had a great impact on my life and I feel honored to have been accepted into the program. I spent two years studying the craft at such an incredible place on a very intimate and focused level. After over 4,000 hours of completion I graduated, and it was time to get back in the shop and get to work.

I have since worked in several shops building fine furniture and doing custom woodwork with some of my mentors. The name Hamilton is my middle name, given to me by my father. Hamilton Works was born from my passion as a maker to bring the humanity back into the everyday objects that we interact with and to do it with the highest regard for our precious resources & planet.

The Process

A concept, narrative, spark & idea…

These are some of the essential seedlings that sprout the beginning of a project. Some remain in that form for a long time, while others get sketched, explored, mocked-up and developed. The journey of the whole process is equally the reward to that of the final product. It is essential to the maker. Design, Make, Create.

This is the workmanship of risk, rather than the workmanship of certainty that was best described by the Author and Craftsman, David Pye. Handcrafted work as such demands the full sense of humanity every step of the way. At any given moment through intention or accident the maker is capable of ruining the job, and yet at the very same moment capable of a range of qualities such as depth, nuance, texture, subtlety, and endless variations. Have you ever seen two identical trees or identical pieces of wood? We must remain infinite in this process.

My work begins with hand selected raw material and the use of simple machinery that my ancestors would have used. It is then refined by hand with fine tuned hand tools, some of which I make myself. The finishes are all hand applied & non-toxic. If you have a concept or need, and would like to have something specially made, please contact me and we can work together to create a beautiful heirloom piece to fulfill your vision.

The MAterials

Real wood comes from trees, ya don’t say!?

However, much of it is cut, sourced, and distributed irresponsibly, unsustainably, and often illegally. (Particularly imported wood).

I source as much material as I can through local tree sawyers in my area that I work with closely. This raw material is from trees that have been responsibly and sustainably cut. Often times these trees have come to the end of their life cycle, have come down in a storm, or were from an individuals’ property that posed some sort of safety risk and needed to be removed. This provides me with the most unique material that would otherwise be unavailable at the standard lumber yard. I know where the trees come from, how they were cut, dried, stored, etc.

If the project calls for a wood species unavailable to me locally, then I will source it through a few hand selected domestic sawyers, that are equally on par with environmentally & socially ethical practices. They run small family operated mills. Adhesives and finishes are all naturally derived and non-toxic.

“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself he always appears to be doing both.”

-Francois Auguste Rene Chateaubriand