Artist Statement

My name is Julia Roden. I am primarily a woodworker although I do have experience working with glass. I design and fabricate all my own pieces for myself, friends, family, and clients. My projects include work with various types of hardwood, sheet goods and many other materials. When starting off a project I begin by sketching out a couple different ideas for what I'd like to make. After more sketching and drawing I settle on an idea and work to come up with appropriate dimensions. My work is generally very functionally driven and fabricated well. My work is important to me because it demonstrates a way that I can make a living doing something I love. I love that I'm able to create beautiful and useful objects with my hands and a natural material. I aim to showcase the natural beauty of the material and to not work it to point that it is unrecognizable as wood. I tend to use visible joinery and honest construction methods, such as a bridal joint. This is one of my favorite types of joinery. I love the way the pieces fit together like a puzzle. As a designer I focus mainly on function, however I also recognize that it's important to create something that adds value to your work and something that people can connect with. With my work I often nail down the function and then begin brainstorming different ways that I can tie in a meaningful and relatable element. For example, I find something that represents family, and I would then try and work the theme of family into the design of the piece. I find that it's important to keep simple and honest fabrication methods so that it doesn't distract people from the aspect of the piece that's meant to draw them in. Overall, my work tends to fit in with contemporary lifestyles considering that it is not overly decorated, and it is extremely functional. In years to come I'd like to create more collections and therefore more pieces that connect to each other. In terms of fabrication, I often choose to keep the material as natural as possible. I find that there's a certain beauty to creating something out of wood and still being able to recognize that it was once a tree. I find it important to highlight the strengths and the beauty of the material that I'm working with. I often choose natural and clear finishes that simply add shininess to the surface of the wood without changing the surface completely. As a woodworker all my pieces are created using various woodworking machines and hand tools. There are many pieces of my work that are fabricated using a CNC router. My projects are created from rough lumber. This means that when the material gets to me it is in rough condition. From then on it is my job to plane, cut, shape, sand and finish each piece of wood in such a way that it can be used to create whichever project it is intended for. In all, my work is created in such a way that it can be extremely functional and extremely beautiful all at the same time. It is important that furniture be functional, with my work I look to highlight the fact that it is equally important to create something beautiful and that can be appreciated for many years to come. I aim to create elegant, beautiful, and functional work that is created in such a way that it will last a very long time.