Wrapping up 2025 – Canadian Woodworking

The project I probably wrote the most about in 2025 were the koi shoji screens I built. I first met with the client in February and finally got the three pairs of screens installed mid-December.

Don’t get me wrong; I didn’t work on them the entire year. It wasn’t until early summer that I was able to put together some mock-ups of what the koi, which were the focal point of the pair of screens to be installed in the front hallway, would potentially look like. Then there were some back-and-forths with the client about design specifics, followed by more mock-ups. At this stage it was more in my head, which is often how I come up with design ideas. Thinking about the design, along with a bit of sketching and playing around in the shop, was what was happening most of the time.

As the project deadline got closer, I thought more deeply about the design. As these things usually go, I had an ah-ha moment and the rest more or less fell into place. But that only got me to the stage…