Laura Kishimoto

Learn how to transform planar bends into faceted, sculptural vessels. This week-long workshop explores how to adapt the age-old technique of coopering (think staved wine and whiskey barrels) to cut angled joinery along bent laminated surfaces. Combining traditional and modern approaches, students learn to design profiles using basic Rhino skills to cut on the CNC, combined with a variety of woodworking machinery. We experiment with radial symmetry and create unique curved parts to achieve unique forms in wood.

In this innovative workshop that bridges woodworking and digital fabrication, we utilize the CNC Router to fabricate jigs and molds for bending and cutting joinery. Bending represents a dramatic departure from most traditional fine woodworking. Rather than working with rectilinear geometry, students lean into the materiality of wood and explore its natural strengths through curvature. Reference faces are often non-existent and require unique joinery, creative thinking, and novel use of machinery. Basic drawing techniques in Rhinoceros 3D are introduced as students design and prototype a project specific to their personal style.

What are the qualities of light that inspire? This exploratory workshop delves into the dynamic properties of light and how it can be shaped and manipulated as a physical material. Rather than incorporating a light source to illuminate a woodworking project, woodworking techniques are used to transform our perception of the light itself. We explore luminosity, translucence, and shadow through the organic lens of bent wood. Students learn basic wiring and are introduced to freeform bent lamination techniques as they prototype a light of their own design.