Drake Ambrosino came up to me after I gave a talk about business practices at a Timber Framers Guild conference a few years back, wanting to represent our work, in the Midwest. It wasn’t a model we had been using, due to the intensity of communication and service to our clients. Up to that point, our sales approach was that everything sold happened within the context of our own engineers, architects and designers. It’s still mostly that way. At the time, we were DIS-inclined to take Drake on his offer. Yet, there was something about his honest, humble and thoughtful approach that was, well, comforting. Like that uncle in the story who everyone loves: smart, funny, willing to help, and quick to pull out his mandolin at the campfire. So we said we’d see…

Timber frames express structure as craft. We love that. They are also a natural fit for energy saving designs. This is great for the Earth and for money-saving empathies. We’ve challenged ourselves to achieve Net-Zero in energy use, or as close to it as we can get, for every project without compromising design.

From Richard Laws, one our co-workers in Oregon, while working on the Hayden Residence in Portland, a timber frame we raised earlier this year:

Generations

“To my daughter.  While it wasn’t possible for me to be nearby as you struggled through labor with your firstborn I had an experience during that time I’d like to share with you. Perhaps not just by chance I ended up doing some work that was more indicative of my father than anything else I could have been doing in my current practice. You didn’t know your granddad well as is too often the case we lived far away. He was an old school craftsman the likes of which are rare today in the building trades. While he could do any carpentry he focused mainly on stairs through the last half of his fifty year career. Late in his practice he added a stringer molding that added a shadow line to the side of the stairs that runs down the wall instead of routing an ogee on it like he did for decades before. It was a subtle but elegant change that I adopted whenever building that style of stairs. His gruff nature belied the tenderness with which he treated the wood he loved. It was inspiring to watch him work, as if all his life force was concentrated in his hands. While my duties as a project manager have precluded me from having as magic a touch as someone who practices daily I always try to replicate the fineness of the work he did.

During your final hours of labor I labored as well installing this molding on some stairs I made with the same techniques he taught me decades ago using a handmade template I modified for the thicker treads we used on this job. Instead of the usual bustle of the jobsite I was alone with this task but my thoughts were with you. As if he knew I was distracted I felt my father’s presence guiding me through this pleasant work. So while you were ushering in the next generation I was spending it with the past one. As you were counting fingers on perfect little hands I could feel my father’s hands in mine. I was finishing up as the first baby photo came through my phone and I smiled a perfect smile. While my dad is no longer with us I’m sure he would be proud of us both.