Donald Polaski

A lifelong resident of New England, I have been interested in old barns since day one.  Living in central Maine, western Rhode Island, and Northern New Hampshire, my constant exposure to barns has allowed me to take my passion and livelihood and turn it into a career.  To me, timber framing and historical restoration isn’t just about saving old barns, but saving a slowly decaying part of our nation’s heritage.  Lately, we have been able to save old structures from as far as Ohio and Ontario, and are even now expanding overseas to preserve old Japanese minkas.  Although I was born with a hearing loss I am still able to communicate well, and I welcome past clients to give me updates on how they have been enjoying their new or restored barns and homes, and I look forward to getting to know new clients as well. Aside from being a barnwright, i am a father to two teenage children and a siberian husky named king.

Jay comes from a family of artisans, mother, aunt and grandmother all working professionally in the folk arts and as illustrators. As a young child, he lived with the family of a Tea House Carpenter, which in turn revealed an affinity for the placement and use of natural material within a space. These early influences afforded a later relationship learning traditional building arts from Amish Timber Wrights through his teen years. His exposure to the traditional guild arts was extensive, affording a rare collection of skills not available to many carpenters today. The influence of these many disciplines influenced his approach academically and literally within the building arts. His fluency in traditional indigenous life skills, customs and building methodologies has established an inimitable view of architecture and the harmony that our living spaces may contain. For Jay, living space is the medium of his art- earth, stone and timber, the material. He has a beautiful wife and son and lives quietly in the Vermont Mountains. 

Jeff has been part of the company since 1997 and is the principal reason this web page is UP AND running. He is a licensed contractor in Massachusetts/Rhode Island and brings a more modern day view of traditional architecture. Jeff’s interest in Japanese houses and building practices have furthered our expanse into Asian timber framing.

Erkin has been interested in traditional architecture since his childhood growing up in Turkey. With Uzbek-Turkic and German roots, Erkin has traveled extensively in Europe, America, Asia, and the Arab world. He has been a professional project manager in the housing, ecological, and international development fields, and is a skilled artisan in earth, stone and timber. His knowledge of new/old world & Asian timber frame building techniques is a great asset to the team. He also builds traditional yurts. Erkin is fluent in English, German, Turkish, and Uzbek, and can communicate in Persian, Arabic, and Spanish. He is our company’s voice globally

Douglas Brooks has worked primarily as a boat builder, building traditional wooden boats for museums and private clients across the United States and Japan. He has been studying Japanese boat building since 1990. In 1996 he apprenticed with the last man building the unique tub boats of Sado Island. Since then he has apprenticed with boat builders in Chiba, Tokyo and Aomori, building five types of traditional Japanese boats. His first book, The Tub Boats of Sado Island; A Japanese Craftsman's Methods was published in 2003. In 2007 Brooks' book was honored by the Japanese Ministry of Culture (Bunkacho) for its contribution to Japanese cultural preservation. He is currently working on his second book on Japanese boat building.

In addition to boat building, Brooks has worked as a timber framer and furniture maker. He has worked on large residential timber frames, and built a replica timber frame for the National Park Service. He has built custom furniture for private clients and museums, including Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and the Shelburne Museum. Recently has has begun to build Japanese furniture and interiors, including chests (tansu), wooden bath tubs (ofuro) and sliding screens (shoji). In 2008 he exhibited a Japanese tea chest (chadansu) at the Bard Graduate Center in New York City.

Douglas lives with his wife Catherine in Vergennes, Vermont. He is a 1982 graduate of Trinity College (B.A., Philosophy) and the Middlebury College Language School (Japanese). More about his work can be seen at his website: www.douglasbrooksboatbuilding.com