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Dwellings_PhillDorn_Layout 1 17-12-06 5:08 PM Page 2

Story by Tyler Clarke
Photos by Matt Goerzen

o Phil Dorn, woodworking is not It doesn’t have to be perfect; that’s the
only an art form, it is also an fallacious notion of beauty.”
Textension of life itself. Every piece is different, and Dorn said
An engineer by trade, the Brandon artist that he “couldn’t care less” what
said that his fascination with wood- becomes of them after he makes them –
working comes out of a need to preserve and that he just has the inclination to
history. make them.
While most people would burn the waste “We all have a creative bend and how
wood he comes across, he doesn’t have you express it is a personal matter…
the heart for it. People express it differently,” he said.
Whether it’s 100-year-old bridges that A few of Dorn’s hand-built tables are on
are rebuilt or sections of the historic display at the downtown coffee joint,
Brown Block building in downtown O&O Coffee, including one dauntingly
Brandon that partially collapsed and were large piece that greets customers as they
subsequently demolished several years come in the front door.
ago, Dorn keeps the slabs of wood that It’d be difficult to find a more fitting
are left behind. location for Dorn to work with historic
Large enough to support a building or wood than the basement of the Samson
semi-truck, Dorn cuts through the slabs Engineering building at 162 10th St.,
with sawmill blades able to cut as deep as where he toils with the pieces.
26 inches. Back in the early 20th century, Hughes
He drills tunnels through the historic & Co., tenants of the day, sold lumber out
wood in order to bolt pieces in place, of the basement. Dorn said that the
creating some of the most structurally- prevailing “story, legend, narrative;
sound tables you would ever find. whatever you want to call it” is that
He sands these components a bit, but during the period of prohibition, for
doesn’t lend too great a focus to buffing every few barrels of nails they received
out their imperfections. a barrel of whisky.
Quoting a John Legend song, he said that This same legend has the contraband
the pieces carry “perfect imperfections.” whisky being served at the Prince
The pieces are separate from the “very Edward Hotel.
refined world that we build in all our And Jimmy Hoffa is buried downstairs,
furniture,” he said. “It’s character that has a Dorn said with a chuckle. “That’s how
lot to do with the beauty we see around us. nicely we embellish the story.”

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