About Del Cover

I have been practicing woodworking for over 48 years, professionally for 30 years. I use the word practicing because woodworking is like medicine, in that one does not suddenly become a woodworker, rather you improve your trade over time. Like in medicine, one develops specialties rather than trying to do everything. My specialties are chair building and matching styles. I was originally trained as a chemist and worked in Oceanography for 17 years, but my hobbies always were around woodworking. My first experience in wood came with my uncle’s coffin factory, but I soon took an interest in boat building and marine interiors. Later, I turned to furniture, and always, artwork and sculpture. My earliest work included many ship models, and 5 Wooden sail boats. For the Americas Cup Racing Campaign I have made 1/3 scale tow tank models, and other pieces for the boats and campaigns. After years of exploring and writing about Baja California, I produced many inlaid wood pieces exploring design motifs of prehistoric rock art. I have remodeled the interiors of several Craftsman homes, including the original Director’s House at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. I have competed in the Del Mar Design in Wood for 33 years and have won awards in the classes of “contemporary”, “traditional,” “art furniture,” “models” and “made for children.” My art furniture piece from the 1993 show, a hammock stand designed as Viking ship frame with a dragons head, appeared on the cover of Fine Woodworking Magazine. I worked for seven years with Niki de St. Phalle building furniture and over a hundred works of art.

I have built collaboration pieces for Niki including the Chariot in the Tarot Garden in Italy, and the Niki Snake Chairs for the Jean Tinguely Museum restaurant in Basil, Switzerland. Several of the Niki de St. Phalle pieces are part of the permanent collection of the Mingei Museum along with a rocking chair of my own design. A few years back I made several pieces for the reconstruction of Jim Hubbell’s house.

Recent projects include several out door memorial benches, refining my rocking chair designs, a Gothic interior, a Gothic library, pieces for other international artists, many entertainment centers, some kitchens and home offices. Although many of my earlier designs are very organic, some of my latest art furniture use architecture elements as the primary part of the furniture. This can be seen in “New York City Park bench”, which won San Diego Fine Wood Workers 1st place and the “Italian Hill town chairs”, one of which, “Postignano”, resides in it’s namesake in Umbria, Italy. Another piece “The Apprentice” which comes from the Trump Tower in New York and plays with the themes of the TV show. This was in the 2017 LAX show. The latest piece, the “Balboa Park Bench” based on the architecture of San Diego’s Balboa Park. Recently, I have made most of the food presentation pieces for Corey Lee’s new restaurant, Benu, including the chocolate puzzle boxes and the utensil rests. I have judged at the Design in Wood Show and the Annual Palomar College student show. I’ve taught for chair building and boat building classes and have been active in the San Diego Fine Woodworking association for 33 years and prepared educational programs for their meetings.