John Spivey is a studio furniture maker and writer who lives in Santa Barbara, California. His work is executed in North American hardwoods--primarily walnut, maple, and cherry. Much of the work utilizes flitch cut boards that retain the natural edge. He is a former mathematics teacher where he also taught outdoor skills, including camping, cycling, backpacking, and cross-country skiing. He was a student of the martial art of Aikido for a number of years.

Beneath the chaos of human suffering and beneath the chaos of things coming and going, there exists an order that is beauty itself. John’s goal is to reflect a bit of that beauty and to point in its direction.

When the mind is at peace,
the world too is at peace.
Nothing real, nothing absent.
Not holding on to reality,
not getting stuck in the void,
you are neither holy nor wise, just
an ordinary fellow who has completed his work.

—Layman Pang