Joshua Howard is a carpenter by trade. He dedicates his time and expertise every day building stunning custom homes. He creates precise, flawless detail on a very large scale. That makes it even more fascinating to see him flex his creative muscles to create quick, lifelike driftwood wreaths, no two of which are alike.
In his 20s, Josh got a job painting houses, but he quickly got bored and wanted to get away from working with chemicals. He transitioned from painting to woodworking when he started building lumber mills in Alaska with his dad, using a chainsaw to make planks. Josh’s dad was an arborist and had an abundance of raw materials. From there, Josh fell in love with wood. He quickly learned framing and got a commercial carpentry job, building churches, wineries and hotels. He still dabbles in woodworking, and recently renovated a local hotel that had been severely flooded. But now he’s focused on beautifully crafted homes along the Northern California coast.
Spending time in the ocean has also always been a passion for Josh. He started fishing and free diving at an early age, and he also loves collecting seashells, so foraging on the shore is a natural instinct. Nearly every beach on the coast allows some level of driftwood collecting, so it became an obvious source of natural, free raw material.
Josh’s wreath is truly special. It balances a rustic look with a lovely minimalist aesthetic. This is achieved by using raw driftwood. Each piece of wood has its own natural beauty, but the combined influence of sand and ocean waves results in a very similar finish across the different types of wood.
Josh doesn’t cut the driftwood to make the wreaths, he keeps them raw. Of course, he starts by spending about an hour on the beach filling a five-gallon bucket with driftwood. He then places the bucket on the floor of his workshop and arranges the driftwood in a circle, initially using the bottom of the bucket as a guide. “At first it looks like a diamond or a square, but then you add a few little pieces and all of a sudden it becomes a circle,” says Josh.
From there, construction is pretty simple. He holds the pieces together with trim screws, brad nails and finish nails. If it’s not how he wanted it, he adds more wood to add depth. The process is so easy, flows well and is completed quickly that he makes so many pieces. “I guess I’m a bit rough around the edges, but I love making things.”
Josh’s wreaths can be seen all over the small town of Guerneville, California, thanks to his big heart for the community. The tackle shop on Main Street has a few for sale, and the oyster bar next door also has one on display. Josh seems to be giving out more wreaths than he can sell. “Selling wreaths is cool, but it’s also fun to see how excited people are when they receive one,” Josh says.
He enjoys the process as much as the work. His favorite part? “The wreaths are all so raw and organic. They’re not angled 45s. They have an incredible level of cohesion, just like nature.”
You can see Josh’s wreaths and other work on Instagram: translation:
