Vermont Folk Rocker began with my desire to design and build things of any sort. My interest in creating started while working with my grandfather during high school. He did masonry and carpentry which I helped him with for three or four summers. We made many stone fireplaces for a picnic area my father developed, and a pool area with a castle and a 20 foot high dinosaur for children to play on. That experience gave me the chance to work with my grandfather on a large project, as well as a very big sculpture.

After college, teaching, and the army, I renovated houses in Burlington, Vermont, and put together a small shop to build cabinets for the houses. With no furniture experience I was trying to make a bench with slats, but decided to cut the slats and rope the pieces together; in the process, I made my first chair using blocks. My sister-in-law, Beth, suggested I make it into a rocking chair. After a couple more years of experimenting with wood, clay, and metal, the woodwork began to take off.

I rented a larger shop, customers walked in, and I’ve been busy ever since! I learned the finer methods of furniture building from Lewie Johnson, my first employee in the new shop. I kept designing and redesigning—the rocker progressed along with an entire line of furniture.

The following photos show some of my favorite designs and paintings. Although we sell only the Folk Rocker now, it came out of the knowledge and experience of making hundreds of designs. The “Folk” part of our name came out of a course studying architectural styles of early buildings. Folk meant things that were made for local conditions, using local materials, and for the local population. Since the beginning, my woodworking has been about using native woods and excellent craftsmanship to create furniture that will last generations—goals I still have today.