Tahiti Pehrson

“It’s not a laser cut.”

That’s a reassurance that Tahiti Pehrson repeats frequently to awestruck viewers of his work. In the Bay Area art scene, constantly-evolving design technology coexists in tension and harmony with a reverence for craft. Pehrson’s work presents both machine-like precision and handmade beauty.

Tahiti’s days are a rare combination of frenetic and mellow. Working out of a back yard studio in the town where he grew up, he’s both always at home and always at work. If you observe him here, you’ll see someone whose roots run deep, and who rarely wavers in his commitment to his work and his love of this place.

Art is his chosen profession, but it’s also his personal respite. “I work every day, and so the idea of what normally people think of creativity, as this escape… it’s harder for me to see that. I also make art as a break from art. I think that’s just the kind of thing that helps my mind relax.”

We visited Pehrson and his family at their home in Nevada City, California. Surrounded by a lush garden and bucketfuls of X-acto blades, Pehrson gives us a glimpse of his process and creative perspective.