Other times, customers talk to him. "They tell me what they want, and I design what I feel they are looking for." Either way, the result is a superbly crafted, luminous piece of art, the koa wood often trimmed in ebony or rosewood, destined to become a family heirloom.
Porter, now 74, learned woodworking from his father, a World War II vet who hand-built the family home on Kaneohe Bay, where Lee and his two brothers grew up in a storybook Island setting. Porter and his father collected hundred-year-old koa from Maui and Hawaii Island—wood that he still uses today. And many of his tools, including his table saw and band saw, were his dad's. "They don't make them like that anymore," Porter says.
Wood artist Lee Porter creates heirloom-quality koa boxes in his East Honolulu shop from hundred-year-old koa he collected with his father on Maui and Hawaii Island. For Porter, the craft is a way to honor both his late father and his younger brother, who went missing in 1976.
Exquisite as they are as pieces of art, Porter's boxes are also medicine—his way of navigating through tragedy. Porter's father, James, died of cancer in 1976. Within weeks, Porter's beloved younger brother, David, then 23, vanished without a trace. David's van was later found abandoned and wiped clean of fingerprints, even David's. The mystery was never solved, and for many years Porter imagined seeing his brother around town. Tips and rumors led nowhere. David was declared dead and the cold case remains on the books.
Woodworking helped Lee through his grief in the wake of that double loss. "When I create the boxes using the skills my father taught me, and even some of his tools, it becomes a sort of meditation. I'm thinking about my dad and my brother, and the act of creating is a way to honor them."
Now retired from a career in carpentry and construction management, Porter still makes koa boxes, though "box" hardly does justice to the precision and beauty evident in Porter's craft. Some are footed rectangles; others are round or triangular or square with a pyramid top. He works mostly on commission, usually from people who hear of him by word of mouth. His work is rarely in retail settings, but a dozen examples are on display at Ben Bridge Timeworks in Ala Moana Center through the end of February.
"I hope these boxes, made from heritage koa, will become a family heirloom for the receiver and a reminder of the beauty of Hawaii," Porter says. "It's an honor to think that I'm sharing a piece of my life experience with others, and that maybe we're sharing a sort of healing."
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