Straight-grained wood can be anything – a leg of a chair, a back of a chair, it can be anything. No decision has to be made; no one had to look at any specific, unique piece of wood and say, “this would make a good rocking chair arm, because of the curve in the grain.” No craftsman had to have the knowledge and experience to know that while that piece of wood would make a fine rocking chair arm, it wouldn’t do for a table leg at all.

With mass-produced furniture, the hand of the maker is not involved.  But when you go to these other trees, the ones that have character, they necessitate that the person using the wood make all kinds of decisions: Can this knot be used in this chair back, is it pretty or not, can I make it more beautiful? Can I take these faults and use them as colors in my painting? With those considerations, you get a perhaps “imperfect” but individual creation, and the harmony or working with the wood’s personality.