Installations

During my 25-year architecture career I worked with clients to help them realize dream environments.  I design and create batiks as custom furnishings, lighting, or hanging screens to articulate and transform an interior space with luminous, silken brilliance.

Interior of a classical building with two large fluted columns with Corinthian capitals, a bench, and a tapestry hanging on the wall depicting trees and a landscape.
Living room with stone walls, wooden beams, and terracotta tile floor, featuring a hanging tapestry of a tree, a wooden table with a bowl and a small crate, and seating area with couches and chairs.
A three-panel folding wooden room divider with a landscape painting of green hills and trees, placed beside a window with white curtains, on a tiled floor with a patterned rug, next to a wooden cabinet with a potted orchid on top.

Woodwork and carpentry were my path away from an architecture that was institutionally isolated from the act of building.  I gravitated to traditional Japanese woodworking, and I spent years creating translucent, sliding screens, called shoji. I made some of them in hand-crafted purity, following the teachings of a Japanese master, Toshio Odate, who wrote detailed books about the techniques. I also designed and built modern interpretations of shoji, always with a respect and a rigor in the craftsman way.

View of a traditional Japanese-style wooden room with shoji sliding doors open to a lush garden.

Following my experience making shoji screens I have now developed wood folding screens, called “Paralumes”, that feature a silk batik as a translucent center panel. A custom paralume is an option when commissioning a batik.

A three-panel wooden room divider with artistic landscape artwork, positioned on a tiled floor in front of a floral-patterned rug in a room with white walls and a curtain.
Woodworking workshop with wood pieces, hammer, chisel, and woodworking tools on a workbench, with a bandsaw and other power tools in the background.
Woodworking project in progress with large wooden frame assembled on a workbench in a workshop.
Close-up of a wooden bed frame with a metal hinge and a textile headboard, adjacent to a wall.

I create my batiks using pure silk, with different types and thicknesses corresponding to the artistic intention for a piece as well as its architectural destination. The framing and the installation for each batik is custom designed with hand-crafted details.

Noble Materials : Silk, Linen and Solid Walnut

Close-up view of a tabletop with a colorful, detailed textured artwork depicting a hand surrounded by abstract patterns, with a wooden border at the top and a plain wall in the background.
Close-up of a curtain hanging from a wooden rod mounted on a white textured wall.
A painting depicting a stone wall with grass and small yellow flowers at the base.
Close-up of a vintage popcorn machine with a glass display, a brown frame, and a wooden handle on the right side.
Close-up of a window with a wooden frame and a partially visible mottled blue and brown curtain.
Close-up of a sewing project with a pin securing fabric, with a person's hand holding the fabric. The fabric has a printed design with foliage, and the background is a textured grey surface.
A close-up of smooth, white satin fabric draped over a wicker surface.
Sewing machine stitching a fabric with a nature scene design on a wooden table in a room with a fan, a small table, and curtains in the background.

The borders have delicate, hand-rolled hems, for a subtle edge treatment that is “of a piece” with the silk and color.

Offering soft, colorful transluscence, batiks may be freely hanging in a space or hung 12” in front of a wall with indirect lighting behind them. 

Interior of a room with white curtains, framed artwork on the wall, a large decorative tapestry of trees, and a potted plant on a black wrought iron stand.