Purpose
To work with our clients and the skilled trades to make meaningful, functional, honest structures that enrich the lives of those who use them; to work with reverence for light and shadows; and to work with materials of integrity to make structures of integrity.
Philosophy
Studio Joinery embodies a love of building, of shelter and of tranquil spaces. Shelter is fundamental to human survival, and so carries this intrinsic kind of depth/significance. Tranquility carries meaning on a whole other level—the stuff of life that passes beyond mere survival.
Buildings are more than brick and mortar, more than a roof over one's head, and more than a separation between conditioned and unconditioned space. They exist in the world and are in conversation with the world. For us, that conversation is an important one.
We appreciate how buildings are created at the meeting place of science, technology, art, and craft. Good architecture, like good music, strikes a balance between predictability and the delightful surprise, smoothness and grit, rhythm and the deviation therefrom. If a building is too rigid and orderly, it does not live; if too chaotic, it lacks all sense of rhythm and repose.
Services
Based in Maberly, Ontario, most of our projects are close to home, in Eastern Ontario. We have also lived and worked on Manitoulin island, and continue to take on projects there. We are certified to design buildings within Ontario, and are set up to build timber frames within and beyond the province of Ontario. Although we are both designers and builders, we also design things for others to build, and build things that others have designed. Reach out if you have any project-specific questions.
Companies/individuals we work with:
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Builders
Greenbuilt Homes and Cottages:
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Roland Aeschlimann Woodworks
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Hemlock Ridge Timber Frames:
www.hemlockridgetimberframes.com​​
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Designers
Adam Mackenzie Smith, Architect
www.cavitynest.info
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Manufacturers
Nexcem wood-fibre ICF forms:
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Partners
A key part of our approach involves collaborating with the other building talent in our community. Rather than insulating ourselves from our so-called competition and pretending we're the only worthwhile game in town, we network and work with them; we learn from them and they from us.
Studio Joinery seeks to embody an approach to designing and building characterized by abundance and humility; a kind of open-source model.
Background
Justin's approach to design and building is rooted in an array of diverse though connected worlds: a background in visual art and music, a degree in Philosophy from Trent University, 15 years of carpentry
including a decade honing the craft of timber framing, and a lifelong love of trees and forests. He is a graduate of the 3-year Architectural Technology program at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Ontario.
For Justin, Studio Joinery is a way to synthesize these experiences and skills, to put them toward the creation of buildings that are more than the sum of their parts.