Finding Inspiration
The way you see the world is shaped by what you notice, what you love, and the places that stay with you. A few things outside of work have shaped the way I see homes, land, and architecture.
I love fly fishing, rivers, and being in the mountains. I’m drawn to altitude, cool air, big skies, and the quiet that comes with winter in mountain towns. In the summer, it’s late sunsets, stars, moving water, and the way light filters through the trees. Those places have a calm and order to them that never feels forced. They are beautiful, but they are also natural, settled, and deeply practical.
Travel has shaped me in a similar way. I pay attention not only to architecture itself, but to the way it sits in a place. I notice how roads bend, how views are framed, how a dirt road runs beside fences and pastures, how a building meets the street, and how materials age over time. Often, the most memorable places are not flashy. They simply feel right.
That has a lot to do with how I approach design.
I pay close attention to light orientation and to the way light changes a building throughout the day. Light affects color, shadow, texture, and mood. It moves across walls, through trees, off water, and into rooms in ways that can make a home feel alive. I also tend to notice proportion quickly, especially classical proportion, along with the details that give a house depth and permanence. Cornices, brick corbeling, stone ledges, sills, and material transitions all matter. They give a building substance and create the kind of shadow lines and texture that make architecture feel grounded and lasting.
I also enjoy building and restoring things that are both useful and beautiful. That might mean handcrafting a bamboo fly rod or working on an old Land Cruiser or Defender. I’m drawn to utilitarian objects that have character, craftsmanship, and function. That carries into my work as well. I love beauty, but I also love practicality. The best homes are not only attractive. They function well, age gracefully, and feel substantial over time.
And then there is family life. Some of my favorite moments are traveling with family, cooking dinners, and simply being together. That probably shapes design as much as anything else. A home should not only look good in photographs. It should support real life. It should feel warm, usable, memorable, and deeply connected to the people living there.
The clients I’m most drawn to usually value those same things. They appreciate beauty, but they also care about substance. They want a house with character, strong materials, timeless design, and a sense of place. They are often people who have traveled, noticed meaningful places, and want to create something lasting of their own.
In the end, the way I design is shaped by more than plans and details. It is shaped by rivers, mountain light, old materials, good proportions, practical beauty, and the belief that a home should belong both to the land and to the life being lived there.
