Otter Designworks

02/13/2026

We’re excited to share this meaningful project we created for the team at Signature Safety, LLC, with 100% of the sale donated to The Outreach Connection Food Pantry.

Their office team commissioned two custom wooden maps for their new main office in New Jersey and secondary office in Pennsylvania as surprise gifts for the owners, John and Mike. The goal was to celebrate the company’s growth over the past 15+ years and create a piece that continues to tell their story as they expand into new states.

Crafted from birch wood, cast acrylic, and reclaimed cedar, each map features clear acrylic state inlays with blue overlays added as new contracts are awarded, creating a living display of progress and impact.

After 80+ hours of craftsmanship, the maps were presented at a holiday celebration and installed in both offices.

The most meaningful part is we donated 100% of this project to The Outreach Connection Food Pantry, helping support their mission to serve the community.

01/11/2026

Over the holidays, we drove over two hours into rural PA. Passed many horse and buggies, on a snowy, icy day. It was treacherously icy just getting it into the truck.
This vintage “professional Bingo game” set up was needing some TLC, and the owner needed it gone, asap. He had gotten it when the church stopped running bingo nights and they needed it gone. It hadn’t been touched in years.
The price was barely a fraction of what we see similar ones anywhere else.
When I saw the ad for it, don’t ask me why, but I had to have it. I could see more than just hysterically awesome, funny game nights, but the coolest lighting feature ever, for us.
After a lot of wiring fixes (thankfully that’s in our wheelhouse of abilities) and we bought 80 new light bulbs, and an almost death defying (no seriously, we nearly escaped death 😳) effort to put this gargantuan piece almost eight feet up on the wall, securely, we had to figure out the rest of making it work.
We purchased new, but vintage sized bingo balls on eBay as several were missing. I made a removable top for the blower box so it’s a side table when not in use.
The cable connections to this beast are unfathomable, and after much deliberation, we decided (and had no real choice) but to let some of it just show. The only way the lights actually light up on the big glass board, is to put the balls into the smaller, but still large, holder which trips that switch for the square in the big board.
Soon I had the realization that words are possible, and that was the icing on this crazy Bingo cake.

So today, if you see the word in lights, just comment it below, as more than ever, we all need it.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

01/05/2026

Sometimes it’s the small projects we do for our own home that are what we enjoy the most about our machines and our workshops!
Being able to make drawer fronts for these bins that fit perfectly on our shelves was such a win! Red painted screws make the drawer pulls pop! Before and after!

12/23/2025

Sometimes your before and after is because your own home is your favorite place to be an artist. Antique windows, hyper realistic cherry blossoms, color changing LED’s, and a ton of custom woodworking for the win. ❤️❤️❤️

12/17/2025

The marketplace ad for these benches said “why anyone would want them I don’t know, they’re from a restaurant, but come take them for free if you do, they’re solid wood.”

This project will keep unfolding over the years. I’m obsessively in love, they are right in our living room. The birds on the wire are each made with our 2.5 year old grandbaby’s thumbprints.

I use my acrylic paint markers, and then coat just each doodle with a flat spray after. In a heartbeat, they are my most favorite things, surely to only get better over the years.

(I actually have a full doodle wall in our hallway, but the colors I allow are very limited, so it’s a very different feel. )

If you find a piece of wooden furniture you like, doing this is additive, therapeutic, and downright joyful. And the memories!!!

The best part, since the back was hollow I built shelves into one, put sliders on the bottom, and it’s built in storage. You just slide one bench forward with ease to open it.

12/09/2025

To see so many (but not all, more coming soon!) projects without scrolling endlessly on FB, check out our portfolio page on our website!

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09/29/2025

This week, we wrapped up and delivered new signage to the Red Mill Museum Village! These signs will find their place in the woodworking exhibit when the museum reopens in November. We can’t wait to see them come to life in such a beautiful and historic space.

09/25/2025

Soon we will reveal a series of pieces that were commissioned by an iconic, local destination. It always feels so good to truly complete a project; the last thing we do is to put our maker’s mark on it! The countless hours that went into these all wood pieces, was another labor of love. So excited to deliver them! Stay tuned!

09/15/2025

We had an incredible time this weekend at Highbridge Grounds for Art! We loved sharing a couple of games with our community, including "Cannon Ball Run", a labyrinth maze where players had to balance a ball all the way down into a nook, and a butterfly-chasing game inspired by Elefun that had kids running around with nets catching butterflies launched from a pipe. Both games were a hit, and we’re so grateful to everyone who stopped by to give them a try. Along with the games, we also had artwork and custom made to order pieces for sale such as reinvented fire extinguisher bells, steel stars, and more. The most meaningful moment for us was unveiling Pipe Dreams, a piece we’ve dedicated over 100 hours to creating. It meant so much to see our community interact with something we hold so dear. Thank you to High Bridge Grounds for Art for having us and giving us the opportunity to share our work!

09/13/2025

✨ Today’s the day! ✨
Join us at the High Bridge Grounds for Art Fest from 1–5 PM! Our interactive booth will be full of creativity with pieces on display, family-friendly games, and the highly anticipated reveal of our newest work, Pipe Dreams. We’ve poured so much into this piece and can’t wait to finally share it with you.

We’ll also have a select collection of our works available for purchase, come experience it all and be part of the excitement!

Can’t make it today? Learn more about Pipe Dreams at: https://otterdesignworks.com/pipe-dreams