Have you ever looked at the Showcase and been totally captivated by an item? I recently found a Fresh Shop called wookwoodworking, a relatively new shop that opened in May, by clicking on this table. Gorgeous!

The craftsmanship caught my eye and took my breath away, so I contacted the shop, and it turns out Alexandra Snook and Ed Way are the duo behind wookwoodworking. Recently married, the couple had met 9 years prior at SUNY Purchase while studying furniture design, and as Alexandra puts it, "Since we met I can honestly say that no piece has been solely mine or Ed's." One of them will come up with an idea, which then gets passed back and forth four or five times before the piece is completed. This obviously works for them — their furniture is refined but inventive.

Interestingly, wookwoodworking not only offers amazing, high end furniture, but also very affordable buttons and magnets, all made from sustainably harvested local wood — Cherry, Maple, Oak, Birch, and Apple. They also offer trivets, salad tongs, cutting boards, and jewelry at a variety of price points.

"Our background is based in one-of-a kind studio furniture pieces and architectural work, but we recently started doing craft fairs and markets, and realized how inaccessible custom woodworking generally is. The inordinate amount of time and materials that go into our furniture pieces make selling anything for a reasonable price (meaning anything we could afford) near impossible.

Taking all of this into consideration, and wishing to offer people pieces that express our vision and craftsmanship, we began to come up with price points and corresponding pieces."

Although the craftsmanship they put into their pieces is rooted in "old world" honest hard work and some classic designs, they "wouldn't describe [their] work as overly modern or overly traditional, but believe it lies somewhere between the two." Asian architecture gives them inspiration, as well as "natural and organic forms and textures. Our work often employs split turning which is the process of turning a piece of wood on a lathe and then splitting it afterward resulting in identical pieces."

They kiln-dry all of their tree buttons, which means they won't shrink, crack or warp as the wood ages. The attention to detail, even in their smaller pieces, inspires me to learn more about woodworking!