Self taught, Stephen started messing around with wood when he moved into a "fixer-upper" Victorian rowhouse in Riverdale. He built stairs, room dividers, built-in shelving and storage, media cabinets, kitchen cabinets and doors out of his favourite material—birch ply—mainly to avoid acquiring any more IKEA furniture. 

Moving into furniture design, Stephen still works with birch ply, combining it with solid woods such as cherry, walnut and painted ash. He also incorporates hand webbing and stitching into his pieces. 

Although he looks to the Arts and Crafts movement, Bauhaus and the Weiner Werkestette for inspiration, Stephen's design aesthetic is still very rooted in clean modern minimalism.

Prior to his career in furniture design, Stephen worked as a mechanical engineer and a software developer.