A self-taught second-generation wood artisan living in Colorado, Keoni’s work explores shape, texture, color, and complex patterns. His designs reimagine wood as woven and beaded basketry inspired by Native American stories, legends, iconography and mythology. Keoni takes simple, functional shapes and transforms them into touchable illusions that blur the distinction between craft and fine art. Keoni’s pieces are always story-driven. Starting with sugar maple hardwood, he uses fire, ink, and sharpened steel to create them. As he carves and colors, the narrative emerges. Each piece is lathe turned then hand carved and hand colored using India inks and organic dyes. Keoni’s designs are graceful, powerful and timeless, the manifestation of tribal stories interpreted in his own voice. He thinks of his pieces as ‘wood, re-imagined’. His artworks enable trees live on beyond their harvest and embody their qualities of warmth, shade, and protection in a tangible and permanent form.