About
Eric Friedman is a woodworker based in Berkeley, California, working in the Japanese joinery tradition and its intersection with western fine furniture. His pieces range from kumiko wall panels and shoji lanterns to case work, beds, and bowls — each built without shortcuts and without apology.
The work takes Japanese craft seriously: joinery that holds without hardware, surfaces that reward touch, forms that improve with age. It also speaks plainly about its making — proud joinery, visible construction, nothing hidden that should be seen.
Eric works from a home studio in Berkeley and takes commissions for custom furniture and objects. Every piece is designed for a specific person, a specific space, and a specific life.
Traditions
Japanese Joinery
Kumiko, shoji, tansu, and the logic of joints that lock under load and release by hand.
Fine Furniture
Dovetails, mortise and tenon, floating tops — western furniture joinery in the service of lasting objects.
Urban Salvage
Bowls turned and carved from city trees — species unavailable in any lumber yard, rescued from the chipper.