About Thomas King

Thomas King has been crafting wood on Hawaii Island since 1986. He began apprenticing at Winkler Wood Products in Hilo in 1987, and established Woods of Hawaii in 1990 in the district of Ka`u where he still resides today.

In 2007 when a Koa tree fell at Niaulani in a storm due to disease in its roots The Volcano Art center contacted Thomas to see if he could help remove the tree in exchange for some of the wood that could be salvaged. After successfully removing the tree, milling it into lumber and curing the material Thomas is now beginning to craft projects from this Koa from Niaulani.

This stool is an example of Thomas’ vision of incorporating the Niaulani Koa with kiawe wood into rustic furniture, a unique style that is built to be extremely durable as well as beautiful.

The stool consists of a slab of Niaulani Koa for the bench. The legs are branches from a kiawe tree. Joined together using mortise and tenon joinery and glued with System Three marine epoxy. The finish is Magnalac brand lacquer.

Another example of Niaulani koa is shown in this chest of drawers featuring carved side panels depicting a kalo leaf motif.