Every table I make has a story to tell, which begins with the tree whose wood forms the table top. That story is completed by the design of the legs that support it.

Depending on the size, shape and specific characteristics of the source tree, simple wood or metal legs fit best. But for other tables, individually designed sculptural supports complement the top better.

When I make these sculptural supports I use welded solid steel rods, different from the hollow steel tubes typically used for table legs. These hot rolled steel rods enable me to create a strong, stable foundation that appears organic, and looks like roots, tree trunks, or a forest in the distance.

My inspiration is the infrastructure of the tree that might have existed when it was alive, or more often, the skeleton of the tree that remains on the forest floor after the tree has rotted away. These asymmetrical, jagged shapes reveal an inner structure of uneven and broken walls, often with voids, surrounding a hollow center.

To mimic this effect in metal, I trace the perimeter of the table top and build a branching structure that will fall within that perimeter to support it. Using an agglutinative process, individual pieces are added to a larger whole, creating a dendritic effect. Designing either from the middle out, like a snowflake, or using a series of guiding curves, I attach each piece of steel using a naturalistic welding method I have developed.

These techniques create a sculptural support that tricks the eye, and engages the mind, to work out how these unusually balanced, spiraling and branching sculptures provide a solid base.