Made entirely from reclaimed wood, the Nerikomi series is the result of the artist’s interest in finding purpose for the large quantity of high-quality waste wood produced by cabinetmakers. Typically unusable, Trey has given the wood new life by painstaking assembling the small offcut sections into elaborate patterns created by exposing the cut ends that cabinetmakers commonly go to great lengths to conceal.

While technically comparable to Wendell Castle’s innovative stack-laminated process, the visual effect is strikingly similar to Nerikomi, the Japanese ceramics technique. Nerikomi involves stacking colored clay, and then slicing through the cross-section to reveal a pattern, which can then be recombined to create increasingly elaborate decorative patterns of solid colored clay body. In Trey’s Nerikomi series, he carves the thick, assembled sheets into sculptural forms that reveal the intrinsic nature of the pattern within. The wood is then colored to harmonize the pattern and create unity of form.

In the pair of sideboards below, Trey has leveraged a yin-yang effect through the horizontal reflection of the scalloped form, drawing attention to his different approach to the pattern on each piece. The whitewashed cabinet offers a conventional rectangular top that acts as a canvass for a Suprematist-worthy composition of dynamic, intersecting patterns. In contrast, the simple herringbone patterned body of the arched top terracotta cabinet, reminiscent of a Roman viaduct, sports interactive, moveable sculptural elements in complimentary colors. Additional custom moveable elements may be commissioned for this piece to suit its intended use.

Each work in the Nerikomi series is unique. Commissions welcomed, visit the custom work page