Who am I?
Hello, I am Wally Siewert
In 2023, after decades as a professor, political ethicist, and activist, I returned home to Three Oaks Michigan to begin my second career as a maker. Born into a woodworking family I have always built furniture as a hobby. Now I am centering that creativity as my vocation.
I offer signature pieces that are available for immediate purchase, as well as custom-created pieces and structures sized and designed for your property and your needs. These pieces are available for delivery in SW Michigan and NW Indiana. Please contact me with any questions or to start a custom build.
What’s The idea behind Big Paw Woodshop?
Big Paw Woodshop is a space for creative woodworking.
The impulse to focus on the tangible creative process of building wooden things for generations of enjoyment comes from a sense of re-imagination at work in my life.
Big Paw Woodshop is also a hyper-local, vertically integrated sustainable use enterprise.
We are co-located with C & A Arborist Company, from whom we source sustainably harvested urban lumber. Within this family-owned business cluster we take the wood from tree form, to furniture form, in one process, and inside of one family of local craftspeople.
What kinds of things can Big paw make?
outdoor and indoor furniture
large size and special order bench/table sets
custom created pieces of all kinds
timber-frame structures
Anything you imagine
Big Paw’s specialty is indoor/outdoor furniture, often using thick slabs of lumber, and incorporating a variety of ergonomic and design elements. The aesthetic is non-traditional woodworking using traditional methods. Big Paw can also create small timber-frame structures using traditional mortise & tenon methods. These are prepared at the Big Paw woodshop and assembled on site.
What is “urban Lumber?”
Urban Lumber is lumber from trees that were cut down for reasons other than logging, usually trees that are in the way of development, or are in danger of falling on something. When C&A removes these logs, rather than simply chipping discarding this wood the logs are milled onsite into dimensional lumber. Unlike commercial lumber this wood is often twisted, figured, and highly distinct.
The wood for furniture is air dried for several seasons.
The wood for timber structures is fresh lumbered.
If you have any other questions, please reach out, and thank you for visiting!
Wally
