Digits or Fibers, a current design process dilemma. All of us are beginners but some of us have to work at it. Beginning designers observe every technique available and learn some. With time (~10,000 hours) we acquire facility (-ies) that elevate/popularize/personalize/economize our game. So, I am fascinated by the current fascination with media that propose that the most basic building block of design is the digit, easily controlled. The digit is not a life-generating unit, merely a rounding down to a least common denominator smaller than fiber. Design is at least shards, splinters and fiber.

Stoel Burrowes is a fine woodworker, artist and university lecturer. He is greatly admired by his students and colleagues. Stoel's furniture designs craft the poetic language of material, form and function. His art work plays in the narrow area between life and death. His background in woodwork and furniture design has been the foundation of creative scholarship, and he has had work exhibited in several national and international venues, including the Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia and the National Conference of The Furniture Society in Durham, the A’ Design Awards and Competition in Italy, the Interior Design Educators' Council in High Point and Georgia, and the Center for Visual Artists in Greensboro. Stoel's creative scholarship has played a major role in his teaching and mentoring of students. He has made several conference presentations that explore the relationship of making and learning as demonstrated in his work.