Working Wood

Tom and Carol Paretti

Kaleidoscopes by Tom and Carol Paretti were considered to the avant-garde in the late 1970s. Their kaleidoscopes continue to be innovative at the beginning of the 21st century. And to think is all started with a Cracker Jack box. After taking a kaleidoscope prize apart to discover the secret behind the magic, Tom made a kaleidoscope for his design class project. The rest of Working Wood’s story is an important part of kaleidoscope history.

The Parettis make every piece of their kaleidoscopes by hand in their northern Arizona studio. For several years, they worked exclusively with exotic woods. Then they started using leather, anodized aluminum and Pyrex glass filled with tiny glass beads for the barrels, reserving the finely hewn and highly polished wood for the eyepieces, turning ends, and their hallmark wood fluting for the third side of the mirror system. Whatever material is used, they maintain the quality of their work at the highest standard, and are respected for meticulous craftsmanship.

Tom and Carol have adhered to their own guidelines: to use variations of bright color, change and randomness in the image, a good optical system, a proper relationship of the size of the chamber to the mirror system, lots of imagination, plus important intangibles that even they can’t define – but which add up to “Wow!”