A birdhouse can be a retiree’s craft project or something your kid brings home from camp (and forces you to hang in the backyard) … Or it can be as cool and graphic as this design by William Dohman. By day an architectural designer at U+B Architecture & Design in St. Paul, Dohman has turned his graphic design and photography hobbies into a paying gig. His Etsy Shop sells his original photos, graphic design prints, and wooden pieces, including a robot made from reclaimed construction scraps ($45; recycled wood is a theme of his work), and a soft-white “Breathe” sign ($32).
But his most intriguing pieces are his birdhouses. He says his inspiration for the design came from traditional cuckoo clocks, but he replaced the automated bird movement with a simplified bird-shaped opening. Dohman’s mod birdhouses, $40, are handmade of appleply, a veneer made from alder and birch. Dohman paints his 6-by-12-inch creations white, magenta, orange, or green—or he’ll paint them whatever color you like for an extra $4. Dohman tells me to watch for his new birdhouse designs. “This time, they are more like bird-condominiums,” he says. See his birdhouses and other work at Etsy Shop.
