At Chester P Basil, every piece is handmade by Mark Hamm. Throughout a varied and winding career path Mark never strayed far from his love for working with wood. The smell of a freshly sawn board, the feel of a smoothened piece of wood, the visual appearance of highly figured curly cherry are all things he is allowed to enjoy every day as he practices his trade . Some refer to the pieces he creates as works of art. Mark looks at them as a means to an end. He loves to cook, his second life long obsession.

          Mark always favored the organic form and attempt to celebrate it within his work. There are just so many variations a curve can take as it leaves the straightness of a handle and flows into the functional end of a piece. He likes to think of his pieces as the end result of ongoing tweeking.

          Mark views his craftsman skills as as a thoughtful study and refinement of discipline. While the design aspect is a continually blossoming search for the real essence of what he senses is within and which needs to be born over and over in the hope of achieving some form of nirvanna between himself, wood and his never ending epicurean interests...