Shaper Origin and The Progressive Woodworker

Welcome to another Shaper update. Since most of our project videos are filmed at Shaper HQ, we thought it would be good to go beyond our shop to show how Origin solves problems and fits into real world workflows. We recently spent some time with Slawek Krauze, a professional woodworker based in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco. Slawek began his international woodworking career with a diploma in metalwork in Poland. He honed his cabinet making techniques in Germany before making his way to California. A self-proclaimed “progressive woodworker”, Slawek researches and invests in precision tools that provide him with a technical edge for his complex custom fabrication work.

Slawek was recently commissioned to build a massive boardroom conference table with precise cable management features. The material specified for the build was Acacia Koa veneer laminated over one-inch thick MDF. Endemic to Hawaii and no longer exported from the island, the limited supply of Koa material on hand meant there was no room for error in Slawek’s cuts. The width of the conference table was five feet, which meant that the possibility of utilizing a 4’x8’ gantry-based CNC router in his co-op workspace was not an option for this project. Additionally, the ability to bring Origin to the material, instead of the other way around, made it much less likely that the Koa would be damaged. As seen in the video, the portability and convenience of Origin enabled Slawek to achieve a highly complex operation on a large workpiece in a very condensed workspace.

Slawek calls his experience with Origin “the way of the future”. We can’t agree more.

Watch the video to see the table and learn more about how he built it.