A graduate of Maine College of Art, where she studied woodworking and design, Olivia began her professional woodworking career on the East Coast. She honed her skills on several challenging projects, including building a house in Maine. On an island. In the winter. While living in Massachusetts.
We figured this was pretty good training for understanding how climate can affect wood furniture (among other things!), and were very excited when Olivia joined our team two years ago.
She enjoys working with Western Walnut due to the richness of color, as well as the opportunity to be creative in our annual Metamortise Contest, when our team is challenged to build furniture or accessory pieces entirely out of scrap lumber. Last Spring her Clark Coffee Table was the winner based on the nearly 1000 public votes cast. And if that weren’t validation enough of its popularity, the voter who won our random drawing selected her piece as his prize.
The first piece of furniture she built was also a coffee table, made from Southern Pine – a piece that has traveled with her across the country twice, and is with her still. At The Joinery, Olivia has proven such a quick study on the Bed Team that she expanded her products to the Seating Team after being with us for less than a year. Her favorite piece is the Sleigh Bed. Olivia also heads up our Safety Committee.
She enjoys outdoor activities including mountain biking and trail running, and Oregon’s natural beauty was a big draw to lure her from the East Coast.
Drop by our Woodstock location to see more pieces that Olivia has built, or to see her in action from our Shop Overlook.