Year: 2023
Materials: Ambrosia Maple, Curly Maple, Spalted Maple

Introspection explores the quiet, often nonlinear process of turning inward. The form is simple at first glance, but the contents hint at complexity: an interior filled with triangular wooden pieces, each with distinct grain, all held in a box-like frame that contains but does not conceal them.

It is a meditation on inner life, the way thoughts, memories, and emotions accumulate and shift. I shaped and hand-sanded each individual piece slowly and deliberately, mimicking the layered work of self-reflection. The triangular blocks can be arranged to sit neatly in place yet their form resists symmetry, reflecting the truth that not everything inside us fits cleanly or resolves easily.

The materials reflect this duality. Ambrosia maple, with its subtle warmth and soft streaks, forms the outer body, the portable stool. Spalted maple, unpredictable and naturally marked by decay, fills the interior triangular blocks arranged in the curly maple tray. Its organic variation speaks to memory, change, and the beauty found in imperfection.

Introspection invites stillness. It asks for patience. It holds space for what cannot always be named, but must still be seen.