In early 1980 I left Vancouver, Canada my hometown, in a recently purchased Volkswagen Van. I had a list of furniture design programs on the front seat mostly sourced from Fine Woodworking magazine which had published a comprehensive list of the current options. It took close to 10 months to circumnavigate North America and visit all of the programs that enticed me including private schools, university programs and a couple of internships. I settled on the Wendell Castle School in Scottsville, NY because it emphasized not only a rigorous hands on education in the making of an object but also an equally intensive investigation on the conception and design of that object.

The two year program passed very quickly and I was fortunate enough to be hired by Wendell to work in his studio for another two years which gave me the necessary experience to leave and set up my own studio. I moved up to Toronto, the largest city in Canada and set up a shared space with Stephen Harris in 1985. I loved living in Toronto, it was a very exciting big city but I watched with envy as all my American friends chased opportunities I could only dream of. When the offer of a teaching position was tendered by Michael Hurwitz at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia I saw it as my opportunity back into the game.