ARTIST'S STATEMENT


   A stone may have a cycle measured by millions of years, a tree for hundreds

and a human for tens of years.

As an organic material, a tree “dies” once but the wood remains and that form

could “live” for another hundreds of years. 

I feel that I leave my mark on the wood as a part of a process that wood goes

through in its second cycle.

I sometimes leave in the piece I build markings left by a human (typically a 

lumber jack or a sawmill person) or a force of nature and hope they can suggest

the time and space the piece of wood went through.

   Things get better with time.

I feel that some objects can record time well by changing slowly with time in its

cycle and become even more beautiful.

And the element that contributes to the change includes all aspects, including

accidental marking left by the user.

I like to design and build things that get better with time, so I strive to create the

right design, use the right tools and apply the right finish to help them get better

in their second cycle.

   I design and build things with the user / owner in mind.

I am not looking for a first impact or expression of my feelings.

The things I build must stay in the user's space hopefully for a long time.

Thus it should be physically strong, visually fairly quiet and highly functional.


Tadao Arimoto