Brooklyn’s Gregory Beson began his career as an apprentice woodworker, learning the trade on renovation and restoration projects in New England. But he started making furniture as a way to create more intimate relationships between objects and their eventual owners. “Every stick of walnut is different, so every table I make is different—the client gets a special table…their table,” he says.

After graduating from Parsons School of Design, Beson introduced a line of wooden furniture alongside more experimental pieces made from materials like rock salt and bonemeal. In whatever medium he is working, Beson subtly composes lines and surfaces, as in the quietly complex Thirds table, made of solid walnut modules.

Now, as an instructor at Parsons with students and apprentices of his own, he has the resources to explore, guided by his belief in deliberate humanism. “Design should have a tenderness toward people,” he says. “It should be thoughtful, caring, and decisive.”

You can learn more about Beson by visiting his website and on Instagram.