About Otis C. Baron and OCB Design

My name is Otis Chandler Baron. I have been a professional carpenter since 1995. Although my first real experiences working with wood came in my father Walter's boatbuilding shop, I never thought seriously about a career as a woodworker. But, an artistic bent and a love of working with my hands led me to study foundry and metal fabrication at the Massachusetts College of Art, where I graduated with distinction with a BFA in sculpture.

While in art school, I began working with Greg Treleaven Carpenters, building and installing custom cabinetry in many fine homes around Boston. After graduation, I returned to my home town on Cape Cod, where I worked for Codfish Construction, learning house framing and colonial-era restoration.

After some time I longed for the urban life again, and moved to New York, where I had the opportunity to work for Traditional Line Architectural Restoration, a company renowned for its high-end restoration and remodeling. There I worked with a crew of phenomenally talented carpenters on a single Victorian-era building on the Upper East Side for the next three years, honing my finish carpentry skills and learning a great deal more about period restoration.

As the project wound to a close, my (now) wife Marya and I decided to leave the city, and after some peregrination settled in Portland, Maine, her childhood home, where we currently live in a 1837 home in the West End. Our home itself is a long-term restoration project!

Here I started OCB Design, synthesizing my love of contemporary art and design with the traditional carpentry skills I have learned over the past decade-plus.