Greg Klassen Artist & Furniture Maker

09/08/2026

This piece was created using the Japanese wood-charring technique known as Shou Sugi Ban. Fire carbonizes the surface of the wood, and as the softer summer growth is burned and brushed away, the harder growth rings emerge in relief.

I love how the process doesn’t hide the history of the tree—it reveals it. Each ridge traces a year of growth, turning time itself into texture.

09/04/2026

Update: SOLD — New wall art! “Remnants” is made in the spirit of a patchwork quilt, piecing together small remnants of beautiful wood into something new.

$750

Available here: https://gregklassen.com/purchase/p/remnants

09/02/2026

This is Josie and Wally, and they might be my cutest customers ever.
In 2016, their home in the San Juan Islands burned down and they lost everything.
Rather than give up and move into a senior home like many of their friends were doing, they decided to rebuild. Josie, who was already well into her 80s, told me with a laugh, “I hope to fall dead in this home.” 😆
The spring before the fire, they had visited an arts festival in La Quinta, California—more than 1,000 miles from home—and fallen in love with the work of a furniture maker there. They didn’t need any furniture at the time, but Josie took his card home and kept it on her refrigerator.
The card was lost in the fire.
After deciding to rebuild, their grandson, who happened to follow me on social media, sent them my website. He thought they might like my work. They were surprised to discover I lived only about an hour away, so they asked if they could come visit my shop.
Soon after walking in, something clicked for Josie.
“Have you ever shown your work at the La Quinta Arts Festival?”
“Yes…why?”
Turns out, I was the furniture maker they had met two years earlier. The card Josie had kept on her refrigerator—and assumed was gone forever—was mine.
Somehow, they had found me again.
Their visit happened to be while I was making this coffee table. It wasn’t even finished, but they fell in love with it and bought it on the spot. It became the first piece of furniture for the new home they were building after losing everything.
That was ten years ago.
Today, Wally is 95 and Josie is 96. They eventually did what Josie had joked that they wouldn't—they left their home and moved into a small assisted-living apartment in Montana to be close to their daughter.
When you make that kind of move, you can't take much with you.
But they took the table.
Their daughter recently sent me this photo of the two of them sitting behind it in their new home.
I made that table ten years ago, but seeing this photo reminded me that you don't always know what happens to the things you make after they leave your hands.
Sometimes, if you're lucky, you get to find out.
And this one has now followed Josie and Wally through two homes and a whole chapter of their lives.
What an incredible privilege to have something I made become a small part of their story.

09/01/2026

Made this piece around 2013. It was my first time experimenting with cross-cut Western Red Cedar in a furniture design.
I sold and delivered it to a home in Evanston, Illinois, while I was there showing my work at the American Craft Exposition at Northwestern University.
The base was built from multiple pieces using a technique called coopering—joining flat sections together and then hand-planing them into a smooth, continuous curve.
I love coming across old, nearly forgotten pieces like this. They remind me how much of making is simply following an idea to see where it leads—and they get me excited about the ideas I haven’t had yet.
Every piece starts first in the imagination!

08/28/2026

You’re not supposed to pick a favorite child, buuuut…

The Tree Table might be one of mine.

It’s unlike anything else I’ve designed—a piece that blurs the line between furniture and sculpture—and I’ve just entered it in an international furniture design competition. 🤞🏼

Wish me luck!
https://gregklassen.com/purchase/p/tree-table

08/28/2026

These little door pulls have been my go-to design for my cabinets. They're quiet and disappear into the design, but are satisfying to use. A hand-carved depression in the underside fits your fingers just right 👌

08/22/2026

08/22/2026

JUST FINISHED! I love this little wall-hanger 😍 Not yet on my website, but you can leave a comment or a message if you're interested. Can be shipped anywhere!

08/22/2026

Why lead with a photo of the bottom of the table? The side you’ll almost never see?
Because the bottom often reveals the craftsmanship.
It’s where you see how a piece was actually built—the joinery, the structure, the decisions that disappear once the table is turned right-side up.
This table was designed to age into an heirloom. It was crafted slowly and intentionally, with the belief that the parts you don’t see deserve just as much attention as the parts you do.
The top is a remarkable crosscut slab of spalted maple, that I milled myself on my band mill. It's shaped almost entirely by the tree itself. Underneath, I built an intersecting black walnut base designed specifically for this piece.
I want my furniture to look beautiful today. But more than that, I want it to still be doing its job decades from now.
Made not just for you, but maybe for your kids too.

Available here: https://gregklassen.com/purchase/p/spalted-maple-live-edge-coffee-table

08/20/2026

Ruth has been at university for almost two weeks now, but I still can’t get over this photo of her and her little brother saying goodbye.
This hug lasted more than five minutes. Neither one seemed ready to let go.
One of our family values has always been that we are a family unit. We’ve tried to build a family culture around doing life together. Homeschooling has given us a lot of that—breakfasts, lunches and dinners together, long days at home, road trips, adventures, ordinary afternoons. Our kids haven’t just grown up alongside one another; they’ve learned how to be a steady part of each other’s lives.
I know how rare and special that is.
Kids are only kids for a short time, and siblings only get so many years living under the same roof. Even though losing Ruth felt like a deep loss, I know it’s just a reflection of our affection for each other.
Ruth is doing really well. She’s adjusting, making friends and having a great start to this next chapter of her life. I’m so happy for her.
But this photo captures something about the heart of our family that I never want to forget.
Even when letting go hurts, I’m grateful for this kind of love.