I started woodworking in my basement on my dad’s old shopsmith. In a furniture making class in college, I fell in love with the feel of a sharp plane on wood. After completing my BA in philosophy and a BS in physics, I decided I needed to see where this love of woodworking led. So, I enrolled at Mass College of Art and Design as a sculpture major and began apprenticing with Dale Broholm to learn the fundamentals of furniture making. After earning my BFA, frustrated by the art world that did not appreciate fine craft and still fascinated by big questions, I took the next 5 years to work towards a Ph.D. in philosophy studying the relationship between mind and world. But my hands missed making things. So, I left the program a year shy of my Ph.D. and started a studio furniture making business while apprenticing with Jere Osgood.
After a divorce and trying to raise two girls by myself, I realized I couldn’t be both a starving artist and single mom. So, I went back to school to get a ‘practical’ degree to help pay the bills. While earning my masters in mechanical engineering, I became fascinated with the interface of biology and physics and took the next 4 years to do my PhD in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. I then worked as a research scientist studying the structure and mechanics of organisms as I raised my girls. In 2023, with the children fledged, I could no longer silence the siren call of woodworking. I walked away from academia for the second time and finally setup shop in Western MA as a furniture maker. My work can be found at @Zanne_Cox_Designs
After a divorce and trying to raise two girls by myself, I realized I couldn’t be both a starving artist and single mom. So, I went back to school to get a ‘practical’ degree to help pay the bills. While earning my masters in mechanical engineering, I became fascinated with the interface of biology and physics and took the next 4 years to do my PhD in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. I then worked as a research scientist studying the structure and mechanics of organisms as I raised my girls. In 2023, with the children fledged, I could no longer silence the siren call of woodworking. I walked away from academia for the second time and finally setup shop in Western MA as a furniture maker. My work can be found at @Zanne_Cox_Designs