Tony Panarisi
Panarisi Cabinetworks
Tony Panarisi
Biography
In August of 1957 the Dodgers still had two months left in Brooklyn. I was born on the other side of the country in Burbank, California. My team was soon to follow. Many of my family members worked in the film industry, and by age 19 I was building sets at Warner Brothers, MGM, and Universal Studios. I learned the trade there. It was an interesting job. The variety of things we worked on was what I liked. From Westerns, to Space movies to the Oval Office, etc. What I got out of it, was that anything was possible. Later, I moved to Santa Barbara, California, and did general carpentry, and also worked on an organic produce farm as the farm carpenter.
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In 1981 I moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and lived there for 29 years. During those years, I did general carpentry and built log homes and lodgepole furniture. I opened my cabinet shop in 1986 after learning much from my dad, who was also a cabinetmaker. Building in a variety of styles, my attraction seamed to gravitate to the style of Arts and Crafts. Stickley, Greene and Greene, Limbert, etc., were my main influence.
In 2010 my wife and I bought a ranch in Thayne, Wyoming, a small town in Star Valley about an hour South of Jackson. Here my wife has 20 horses she uses in her non-profit program, Horse Warriors™, and I have my shop for cabinets and furniture.
Living in the proximity of Yellowstone National Park, I have learned to appreciate the parks and the outdoors. Old Faithful Inn, built in 1904, is one of my favorite places to be. I seem to transform when I am there. This is what has influenced me most for building my limbs and twig furniture, while incorporating Arts and Crafts at the same time. I call my line of furniture “National Park Inspirations.”
My other interests include Baseball, and Baseball History, Sea Kayaking, and Hiking.
