Welcome, and thank you for taking the time to find Hamilton/Roberts Designs Fine Woodworking!
For 40+ years the married team of Michael Hamilton and Dee Roberts have been building handmade wood boxes along with small cabinets and shelves for the wall and even urns (for pets too) here in our very small studio (Model T era garage!) in Boise, Idaho. We use many domestic and exotic woods. By "handmade" we mean that the two of us use traditional woodworking methods and standard woodworking tools - table saw, planer, jointer, etc, along with many hand tools. No CNC machines, lasers or other computer aided tools, no outside contractors or pre-made parts. At the end of the process we hand sand, hand rub out with very fine steel wool and hand buff with a cotton cloth. Our trademark seems to be the gently domed lid and the slightly tapered sides - not flat, not square as most boxes are. What kind of boxes? Beautiful, unique, elegant, dare we say heirloom boxes? We love our work and hope our visitors will too. Our customers certainly seem to agree. In fact, here is a recent testimonial that blew us away:
“Excellence Through Integrity - I feel so blessed to have been able to purchase one of your incredible, heirloom quality wood boxes for my wife. The excellent craftsmanship is beyond words, expertly designed with amazing details and a finish that shines like the sun. The integrity in which your company is run explains the excellence in the craftsmanship of the boxes and phenomenal customer service that is unequaled, it is very clear to me that you are very passionate about every detail and it shows. To say that my wife and myself are "Thrilled" really is understated, I'm so grateful to both of you that saying thanks doesn't seem enough, but from both of us, thanks so much.
Sincerely, J.L. and P.L, Largo, FL
We have retired from traveling to sell our work at art fairs and in galleries. We participated in some truly wonderful fairs from coast to coast (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Washington Craft Show, American Craft Council shows, Coconut Grove, Cherry Creek, La Quinta, CA, etc), but we now sell our work directly to our customers from our website (free shipping). We also still have one fine craft gallery that carries our boxes...The Wood Merchant in La Connor, WA.
If you would like to be notified of occasional discounts on our work, please sign up for our very infrequent newsletter (honest) or just send us email.
Not ready to purchase now? Until you are, you can see how we make our woodwork using everything from aluminum to ziricote in our too small workshop located in the back yard in a long skinny Model T era garage. We have a list of other woodworkers, artists, fine craftspeople, museums, suppliers, etc on our links page.
Also, we have decided to not accept any custom work. Custom orders (meaning prototyping a new design) simple take up too much time to complete as we try to supply our gallery and keep work on the website. Thank you for your interest though!
Go here to search our website.
“An object reaches perfection within its genre when it fulfills its intended purpose. There can be no conflict between beauty and utility. An object is beautiful if its form is the full expression of its function.” Paul Souriau, 1904
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We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support of our work. The trust and confidence our collectors and customers shown us, by collecting our work, has allowed us to to earn a living as full-time craftspeople for 40+ years. It is a challenging career choice but the opportunity to bring a bit of beauty into other people’s lives through our woodworking continues to be greatly rewarding.