After high school, Nate Fontes-Fried began working in carpentry before shifting gears into photography. Today, he combines both passions in his workshop through an intricate process he calls “wood quilting,” or stitching together pieces of scrap wood to create nautical-themed artworks.

“I’m happy with whatever I’m working on,” Fontes-Fried said. “It’s nearly impossible to make two of the same just because of the way that I cut up the wood and the colors and everything. I feel like every one of them, when someone purchases something, I know that I’m giving them something that’s unique.”

Located next to the new Swampscott Elementary School, Fontes-Fried’s workshop is filled with scrap wood in every size, color, thickness, shape, and texture.

“There’s different shades of brown obviously, and things are weathered differently,” Fondes-Fried said. “I really like when it can be different depths. It’s texture, color, depth that i’m always trying to incorporate. It keeps it from being just one plane.”

He tries to source the scrap wood locally as well. One stack of pieces came from an old child’s side table he found, with different scraps painted purple and some other remnants of colors. Fontes-Fried said the colorful pieces will be perfect for an octopus stitching he has coming up. Other wood comes from the beaches, forest areas and construction sites. 

But together, they form new creative pieces once “stitched” together. Fontes-Fried said it’s “just basically assembling pieces of other people’s scraps.”

Some of his older stuff is “more gritty and more text- and texture-based.”

“It didn’t have the appeal to the people in a seaside town,” Fontes-Fried said. “I started doing them in the shapes of fish and whales and it was like instant. People immediately took to it and were receptive. I was having fun doing it because more people were as excited about it as I was.”

The Covid-19 pandemic was almost a launching point for Fones-Fried, because he had time to “make it from nothing into something.” 

Fontes-Fried unveiled a lobster recently at the Swampscott Elementary School. Different shades of blues, whites and blacks create a mural for the students along the main stairway. It’s visible as soon as someone walks into the green doors of the building.

“The elementary school is a new thing that I’m super proud of that I was really happy to be a part of,” Fontes-Fried said. “My kids will go there. One of my kids goes there now but they’ll both eventually go there, and I live here. Hopefully it’s something that will be there for like 100 years or more, however long the school is there.”

After living in Swampscott for about a dozen years now, Fontes-Fried said the pieces are a way for him to connect with the community.

“It’s just great to feel like I’m a part of the community because of my art,” Fontes-Fried said. 

His wood quilts now hang in local businesses, like G Bar and Kitchen, to people’s homes. He said there’s even a list now for commissions he needs to work on. 

And Fontes-Fried still has his photography company, Nate Photography, as well. He said the fact he’s able to have two creative passions lends to better results in both. 

“It’s nice to go do a form of art all the time,” Fontes-Fried said. “They both sort of compliment each other. It’s nice to be able to do them both. This morning I spent a few hours in here (his woodworking space) and then I went to my office inside and edited photos of an engagement for a few hours. Then I’ll come back out. I don’t feel like I’m tied to one thing.”

Fontes-Fried’s photography has been published in places like Boston Magazine, and he often photographs weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, and other events. 

His office now includes a lot of his highlights of photos in the wild, many with frames he also made from wood. The shed also is filled with his stitching work, including a great white shark that was one of his first pieces. 

“I’m just lucky to have this spot near the school where I can have so many eyes on my work and interact with so many people, and it gives me the opportunity to share what I’ve got with more people,” Fontes-Fried said. “My two kids are just awesome, and my wife is amazing because she lets me be creative.”