Paul likes to call himself a woodworker because Paul works with wood. From designing and building a Greene and Green inspired arts and crafts timber-frame home in Minnesota to the chairs and stools for Linda Bean’s restaurant in Freeport Maine it is all wood. His pursuits have carried him from his first shop in the heart of the Berkshires of western Massachusetts in the 1980’s to the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. “The Rosebud work was some of my favorite as we were able to help start the new college campus on the reservation. This was a six month project that lasted 4 years and included a log crafted museum building for repatriation of Native American artifacts as well as the Science and Technology building for the Sinte Gleska University”.
Paul and his lovely wife Lorna returned home to Maine in 2005 when Paul opened his current furniture business. It was in this shop that Paul started to make and market his signature stools.“I didn’t want to try to start over in the carpentry business and having already been making furniture for many years it seemed like the right thing to do. We’ve made and shipped world wide close to 2000 stools in the last 12 years.” Since opening his shop in Maine Paul has had his hands in all kinds of woodworking. “My latest project is to lead the restoration team for the Bowdoinham Historical Society in restoring a hand pump fire apparatus that the town has had since 1798”.
Paul’s stools can be found at the Center for Maine Craft in West Gardiner, and he can be reached at his shop at 94 Main St. in Bowdoinham Me. Or by phone at 207-571-8280 or www.paulbainesfinewoodworking.com