- My name's Charlie Baker.
I'm an artist and builder,
and I create mostly by weaving materials found in nature.
A lot of what I create, I strive to make it look
as though it could have grown that way,
combining natural materials
in the most organic way possible.
[inspiring music]
She's out of frame there, she's in the frame.
- [Interviewer] There she is, let's see where she goes.
- [Crew Member] There she goes.
- She's gone under the wood rack,
you won't see her for awhile.
Where were we again?
- [Interviewer] Your favorite aspect of the process.
- Oh yeah, at first I just really enjoyed
the process of foraging, taking beach walks
or walking through the woods
and recognizing certain shapes that spoke to me.
And it wasn't
until I started playing with some of these materials
that I realized I was good at it
and it was something I wanted to keep doing.
With some projects, you start with the drawing
and you find the materials later.
Sometimes the design process
just starts with playing with the material
you know you want to use and seeing how it fits together.
and the overall form takes shape
just from a little experimenting.
Sometimes the materials selection
has to serve various purposes, both an aesthetic purpose
if it's a piece that's gonna be outside
and needs to be rot resistant,
there are certain species that are gonna last longer.
And sometimes you have the freedom to just pick a material
based on the aesthetic, based on what shapes or colors
or textures are appealing to you.
I tend to gravitate towards twistier, more curvy shapes,
I feel like when they're put together
they create a sense of motion in the final piece.
There are certainly days where things are falling into place
and you find that rhythm.
And it's very enjoyable when you cut a piece
or bend a piece just right and it fits right in there,
it can be very easy and enjoyable and exciting,
but there are certainly days
where you feel like you're fighting a little bit.
Sometimes you just need to take a break
and take a break from the material or the project
because it can be a very tedious process
and if you're not enjoying it,
sometimes it can translate into the final project, so.
[horn blowing]
[laughs] Okay.
I would say my favorite, most exciting part of the process
is when I reach that tipping point
where you can just see
that your original vision is coming to life.
It's hard not to just stop and admire it
even though it's not quite done.
My largest piece I've created
was a series of human-sized bird nests
that were roughly 10 to 12 feet diameter
and there were three of them, total, connected with bridges.
My favorite work memory would be working on the nests
and feeling like I was part of a community of nesters
because I was surrounded by just a deafening chorus of birds
doing their work while I was working in this grove of trees.
One of the pieces I'm most proud of
was a eight foot diameter globe
I made out of mountain laurel twigs.
It's a series I wanna create over time
of geometric shapes done with natural materials,
I'm currently working on a pyramid version,
slightly smaller.
The eight foot diameter ball was very ambitious,
this time I'm gonna go a little smaller
with the pyramid shape.
[footsteps crunching]
So I use laurel, a lot, when I'm selecting branch material,
it's not a branch, it's a shrub that grows in the understory
but it has a very twiggy appearance to it.
Laurel is typically found in specific places
where it likes the acidity of the soil
and it likes the species of trees
and it's hard to find those spots that it's likes
and is growing abundantly.
Of course, my exact spots I keep top secret,
but this batch came from out in Eastern Long Island.
So here we are in a spot that I found a few years ago
in an area of Long Island
where mountain laurel happens to grow quite abundantly.
Mountain laurel has a natural resistance to rot and bugs.
I've always been drawn to this look of the bark
and the way it grows, it grows very twisty, wavy,
seeking out the light in the dense wooded areas
where it generally grows,
but it's the best rot resistance that I know of
in a branchy looking material,
which makes it great for this project.
Generally look for ones that are mostly dead.
As you can see, this one has hardly any greenery on it
but we know it's not quite dead and starting to rot
because it has just a little greenery left.
And that's one that'll probably eventually die
but I'm gonna get some good use out of it
instead of letting it rot here in the woods.
On that side.
So, when I head out into the woods,
I don't really generally need much in the way of tools,
have my loppers,
these will allow me to cut pretty big material,
quickly and easily.
They also function as a spiderweb stopper,
I hold them a few inches in front of my face
because nobody likes a solid mouthful of spiderweb.
I have my smaller hand pruners to trim off greenery,
or smaller diameter branches,
and for bigger diameter material,
or if it's hard to reach inside with the loppers,
I have an arborist handsaw that I bring.
[Interviewer] Why is it that shape?
- I don't know why it would be that shape, to be honest,
but every tree saw I've ever seen has got a curve to it.
As a general rule, I almost never take things
that are a thriving, healthy species,
I like to take things that are abundant
and not in any way gonna harm
the area where I took them from.
So, you have a lot of criteria that needs to be filled
when you're selecting a material.
Luna, come on.
[wooden slapping] There you go.
This is my helpful assistant, Luna.
Before a piece is done
she needs to do one last quality check
and make sure everything's well screwed in and tip top.
Sometimes helpful, sometimes not so helpful.
[everybody laughing]
This is, so far, about two to three days,
including the frame.
With the globe shape,
the mountain laurel that I was weaving together,
just kept going as a continuous circle,
almost a repeat of many circles and different diameters.
The challenge now is to try it
where you have to actually turn a corner,
it'll be an experiment
on how the material will come together
when we turn the sharp edge.
The bottom, I'm trying to make it look
as natural as possible, almost like root flare of a tree
when the tree meets the ground.
And at the top
it's gonna be another challenge of the puzzle piecing,
of all three sides coming together
and trying to make it as a perfect spire as possible.
Really, only the first layer of branches
are actually attached to the frame
and then most of them are either just tucked into each other
or screwed from one piece to another.
As I'm assembling it, I'm using very curvy pieces
but I like the way they naturally move around each other,
almost is like a braided rope or a basket,
and I try to picture
how they want to be married to one another.
So, it's been sort of a experiment and learn as you go
to see how the form is taking its own shape.
As my experience as a woodworker,
there's definitely some engineering that comes into play
with some of the pieces I create,
they can't just look pretty they have to be sturdy,
for example, the walls of the nest
have to serve as a safety barrier
because the nests are raised.
So most of the puzzle pieced twig creations
are fastened with thousands of screws.
Also always keeping in mind
that where the screw isn't gonna exit
in a place where it's gonna be visible,
which is sometimes tricky.
[drill whirring]
And when you're holding the piece in with one hand
and having to start the screw, it's always fun.
[drill whirring]
Sometimes it'd be nice to have three hands.
I would say my most used tool,
when I'm doing the puzzle piecing of twigs, is the bandsaw,
just allows for intricate, curvy cuts,
or shaving little bits to get that fit just right.
Sometimes it just slots its way in
and you know that's where it's going,
even if it wasn't where you originally wanted to fill,
it just found a home and you knew it wanted to be there.
The hardest part of finishing it off
and filling the last bit of voids
can sometimes be the most time consuming
because you're finding
you have one destination for it to go
and you want to find that perfect piece to fit in that spot.
Whereas, when you still have multiple holes,
then you can shop around
for where it seems to be wanting to go.
I would like to think that when people see my pieces
it gives them
that feeling that you get when you're out in nature.
And combining that with craftsmanship,
that I hope inspires people
by the care and the work that went into it,
that's recognized, but also has a look to it
that maybe nature could have created it
and it could have grown that way.
A combination of craftsmanship
and what you'd naturally find out in nature.
I obviously have an intense appreciation
for the already sculptural pieces
that nature creates on its own.
And in a way, I just feel like I'm borrowing
and combining things that are already there
because I think nobody can create these shapes
better than Mother Nature.