A full-time maker since 2011, Beston Barnett designs bespoke wood furniture and functional wood art. Though the majority of his work is made on commission, he has shown speculative pieces at juried international exhibits, and regularly shows with long-standing local guild, the Allied Craftsmen of San Diego.

In his speculative work, Barnett is interested specifically in Islamic geometry, and the ways it can be integrated into a modern aesthetic.

“I’m Jewish, though non-practicing. The Jewish aesthetic, if you can even talk so generally about such a dispersed and dislocated culture, is tied to the “Moorish” style, which has its roots in 10th century Muslim rule in Spain. There was a period of relative religious tolerance then that later European Jews came to think of as a golden era. Artisans from three religions came together to build synagogues AND churches AND mosques. So, if I see myself as a Jewish craftsperson, then I can see how I fit into a long lineage of Jews working within the traditions of Islamic geometry.”

These traditional patterns offer Barnett a trove of possibilities for new applications, in search of which he uses every tool at his disposal: CAD, pencil, CNC, laser, lamination, and quite a bit of time-consuming handwork.

https://youtu.be/MfFa5xUS7Zc