Pranayama (Monolith, C), Mika Tajima

The artwork is part of a series of sculptures carved from solid materials and punctuated across their surfaces with chromed nozzles—from actual jacuzzi jets. While other works from this Pranayama series have involved intricate forms deeply carved into wood or marble, this piece presented a different approach. Working with a six-foot-tall slab of walnut, Tajima envisioned an organic depression sculpted out of one area. In our role as the fabricator, we were brought on to realize this new and specific form.

While the process of CNC milling is often straightforward, we worked through 25 programming operations and eight specialized router bits to finalize the surface geometry—twice as many as typical millwork. Without this refined level of programming, tooling marks remain visible on the surface. Although most of our larger-scale architectural projects rely on our CNC capabilities, few require the same level of digital precision that sculptures do.

After producing the envisioned form, we delivered it to the artist. Working through her own finishing processes, she transformed this raw object into a fully-developed piece of art.