A mother and her son, at one bench.

The Wood Atelier is the two of us — a mother and son in Portland, Oregon, building things in wood whenever the house lets us. It started with a single push-around car, a gift from an older woodworker at the Oregon Guild, and grew from there: toys first, then turned pieces, then furniture, and finally a shrine we use every day.

Nothing here was built to sell. Some pieces took a weekend, some took months. Most are still in use — around the house, at the temple, or in the hands of children we gave them to. That, more than anything, is the point.