Silas Kopf is a furniture maker specializing in the art of marquetry. Born in 1949, Kopf graduated from Princeton University in 1972 with a degree in architecture and began making furniture soon after. In 1988, he received a Craftsman's Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and used the opportunity to study traditional marquetry technique at the Ecole Boulle in Paris. His major projects include several pianos commissioned by Steinway & Sons and many benches, desks, and cabinets for private collections and museums. His designs frequently incorporate floral depictions and trompe l'oeil concepts. His workshop is located in Easthampton, Massachusetts, where he builds and designs with his assistant Tom Coughlin, who also designs and builds guitars. Furniture is the collective term for the movable objects which support the human body (seating furniture and beds), provide storage, and hold objects on horizontal surfaces above the ground. ... Marquetry is the craft of forming a decorative panel of veneers composed of shaped sections of wood (sometimes including bone or ivory, turtle-shell (conventionally called tortoiseshell), mother-of-pearl or fine metals) and applying it to a structural carcass. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday. ... Princeton University, incorporated as The Trustees of Princeton University, located in Princeton, New Jersey, is the fourth-oldest institution to conduct higher education in the United States. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year that started on a Tuesday. ... The Parthenon on top of the Acropolis, Athens, Greece Table of architecture, Cyclopaedia, 1728 The following article focuses on built environment, the architecture of spaces designed for human habitation. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII in Roman) was a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Endowment for the Arts is a United States federally funded program that offers support and funding for projects that exhibit artistic excellence. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... A grand piano A piano is a keyboard instrument, widely used in western music for solo performance, chamber music, and accompaniment, and also as a convenient aid to composing and rehearsal. ... The Steinway & Sons logo Steinway & Sons is a piano maker based in New York City and Hamburg, Germany. ... Trompe-lœil mural on building in Narbonne, France. ... Easthampton is a city located in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. ... A guitar is a stringed musical instrument. ...

At one point, his wife told him to get a new suit. He took a bolt of Hawaiian-patterned cloth to a seamstress and had one custom made. He's a pretty cool guy, just don't invite him to your wedding.