4.5” × 4.5” × 4.5”
Oak / Pine / Request
2–4 week lead time
Custom sizes can be discussed through enquiry. Trade pricing available.
Request details / Start an order
Oak / Pine / Request
2–4 week lead time
Custom sizes can be discussed through enquiry. Trade pricing available.
Request details / Start an order
Crown of Thorns joinery is a near-extinct woodworking technique from the "tramp art" tradition, practiced by itinerant craftsmen in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Working with salvaged fruit and cigar boxes, these artists carved intricate notched dowels that interlock at right angles, forming repeating, self-supporting, prickly structures.
With no surviving production or assembly plans, I spent 2025 and 2026 reverse-engineering the technique from historical photographs, auction house archives, and museum catalogues. The Crown of Thorns design consists of six double-sided thorns that form a single star-like shape, which serves as the foundation for all design variations. Each art object is assembled by hand and composed of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of individual notched dowels.
Every piece is made to order based on selected options, with final details confirmed through the ordering process. My work aims to reorient the traditional Crown of Thorns style for a contemporary context. Through the design of new art objects, I hope to point the revived craft toward a living, practical future.
With no surviving production or assembly plans, I spent 2025 and 2026 reverse-engineering the technique from historical photographs, auction house archives, and museum catalogues. The Crown of Thorns design consists of six double-sided thorns that form a single star-like shape, which serves as the foundation for all design variations. Each art object is assembled by hand and composed of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of individual notched dowels.
Every piece is made to order based on selected options, with final details confirmed through the ordering process. My work aims to reorient the traditional Crown of Thorns style for a contemporary context. Through the design of new art objects, I hope to point the revived craft toward a living, practical future.