Splinter Group is a cooperative studio and artisan community tucked away in an industrial neighborhood of East Austin. While there I apprenticed as a design/builder with Joseph Zambarano. He is an artist, craftsman, and builder who offers complete design, fabrication, and project management services. Together, with our team, we designed and built high end furniture, cabinetry, and homes to fit the needs and aesthetics of a range of clients. My apprenticeship began with simple tasks and quickly evolved towards more advanced skills in carpentry and installation. This soon after expanded to design, drafting, and management.

This door and stair project was my initiation into the front and back end of designing, building, and managing in a professional context. The client, an art collector from Europe, requested that we make small accents to her Texas home so as to add firmness and texture from which seemed to be lacking in the suburban context she had inherited. Thus we developed for her a pivoting entry door made from an assembly of bronze components with an applied patena and inlayed with Jatoba, a Central American hardwood.  On the stair we developed a similarly treated bronze handrail, which is mounted into a short structural  glass wall giving the illusion of being suspended.

More info at: http://www.josephzambarano.com