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Located in Northern California, Wood Joint Studio was created by Bob Sanderson and Taimi Barty, a married couple, both graduates of the prestigious College of the Redwoods Fine Woodworking School, headed by the legendary James Krenov.
Bob and Taimi attended the College of the Redwoods Fine Woodworking Program during the years of 1999-2002. After completing the program, Wood Joint Studio was created. Through the years the work has shifted from furniture, to cabinets, to boats and back again. Some jobs are big and some are small and that is how we like it. The work always presents new challenges and new ideas, which keeps it fun for us. We are licensed by the California Contractors' Board and carry all of the appropriate insurance.
Born and raised in Stony Brook, New York, Bob moved North to study wood technology at Morrisville University after high school. While at Morrisville, he learned to build Western Red Cedar canoes and worked as a teacher's assistant in a canoe building class.
In 1999 Bob moved to Fort Bragg to study under James Krenov at College of the Redwoods in Northern California. There he developed an eye for design and knowledge of working with hand tools. Unable to find elegant and well made hardware for a tansu project, Bob taught himself to work with metal; this led to Bob's other business, Sanderson Hardware.
I have always built things. Before my first shop class in middle school I built model rockets and remote control cars. I studied wood technology in college and followed that up by working as a teacher's assistant for a canoe building class. In 1999 I moved to Fort Bragg, CA to study under James Krenov, in order to develop an eye for design and further my knowledge of working with hand tools.
Fort Bragg and the culture of craftsmanship here agreed with me. I now have a shop with my wife, Wood Joint Studio. I build furniture, both commissioned work as well as my own pieces. We also construct custom cabinetry for homes and small business. One outside project was reconstructing the interior of a burned out yacht.
Unable to find elegant and well made hardware for a tansu project, I started working with metal. Experimentation, some machine tools classes and demand has led to Sanderson Hardware. I make brass hinges and other hardware for fine furniture pieces.
Every project offers something new to learn. The medium, whether wood, metal or Legos (with my son) and the forum, whether in our shop, on the water, or the living room floor, is not as important as the process of designing and the procedure of follow through. The goal is always the same; build something that is pleasing to the eye and useful in its surroundings.
Taimi moved to the United States from Sweden in order to attend Harvard and Radcliffe College in 1990. She graduated with a degree in engineering in 1994 before moving to San Francisco, where she worked for a while as an environmental engineer, cleaning up petroleum hydrocarbons.
Engineering by day and woodworking by night, Taimi decided to attend the Fine Woodworking Program at College of the Redwoods. Studying the making of fine furniture under James Krenov for two years changed everything. The satisfaction of working with wood, creating graceful, simple and functional furniture from beautiful wood is what she loves to do.
Designing and building wood furniture makes me happy. My approach to the work begins with defining the purpose, or function, of the piece. I then build a mock-up to refine the ideas and to establish the right volume of the piece. Sometimes I have the specific plank for the project in mind before I begin the work while other times I drive across the country side visiting various lumber yards on a quest for the right wood. Once I actually begin working with the selected woods, however, it seems the design and form of the piece transforms again as the grain and physical parameters of the wood and my ideas merge. It used to worry me that I was not adhering to the original design, but now I expect and enjoy the fluid balance between form and function. My woodworking shop is my favorite place to be and I invite anyone who is interested to visit.