Perry Policicchio has been working with wood since junior high in Dearbom, Michigan. He got straight A’s in shop and was promoted to Shop Assistant in high school. He then began an entrepreneurial career, opening his own bakery right after high school and running it for six years. For the next twelve years, he operated Piretti’s, a restaurant/bakery and imported food store in Holland, Michigan. During those years, he began vacationing in Hawai’i and found that he preferred the Big Island, so he sold his business and moved to Hilo in 1995. He promptly opened the Topo Gigio Italian restaurant and installed his collection of antique toys. But he never stopped woodworking as a hobby. He found that the restaurant, while successful, was not worth the effort -so he gave it up to become a full-time woodworker. Perry joined the Big Island Woodworkers’ Guild and first showed his work in their 2001 show at Wailoa Center. His armchair and ottoman attracted committed fans for Perry, and he has been doing commissions as Well as his own discretionary work ever since.
He says, “I like to challenge myself. Something tells me to make it, and then I figure out how.” The work you see today shows he has met his own challenges with both creativity and consummate skill.