I've only just started this site, but putting together a portfolio has been something I've wanted to do for a long time.  In part, it's my resume, but right now, it's like studying history: By taking a look at where I've been, I hope to get a better idea of where I want to go next.

 

Some things I've built for my employers and their customers, some things I've built for my own customers as part of my present business, and some things I've done on my own.  

Photo Credit: Ken Hutchison

I started out just building things.  Eventually I grew into design and engineering, which expanded what I could build.  But in the end, I realized that I love working with my hands, and to be able to do both puts a good balance in my life.

I've built things all my life. It's what I do.  It became my career, but really it's just fooling around that got out of hand.  As a youth I lacked the discipline to buckle down and work, instead I just did what was fun, and later took jobs that seemed fun.  Now I consider myself very lucky that I get to do what I love, and get paid for it.

There have been houses, sailing yachts, satellites, wood carvings, furniture, scientific instruments, inventions, and more. Sadly, much of my work has gone unrecorded, but amazingly, many photos do exist.

Stone Boat Yard was my alma mater.  W. F Stones & Sons had built wooden ships and boats there on San Francisco bay continuously since 1853 until the yard finally closed in 2004.  

There are stories that go with each of these which I hope to post at some point.   

I enjoy having some of the things I've built or designed or created, but ultimately the greatest pleasure I draw from each project is the experience.  It's the process, more than the result, that I work for.

It started with scraps of lumber in the basement, grew with tree houses, prospered in junior high school shop classes, and flourished throughout my working life.  I dropped out of Art School to work at a construction job restoring old Victorians, a dumb move, but there's no going back.

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All photos by Peter Burrowes, except as noted

copyright © 2008 by Peter Burrowes