Jonathan Safran Foer’s latest book, Tree of Codes, wasn’t easy to pull off (at left is one of the first drafts from the publisher). Because of the sculptural element involved, we wondered if Safran Foer might have other artistic pursuits outside of writing.

And he does! Safran Foer makes miniature sculptures for his friends. We trekked out to his Brooklyn home to see a few works in progress.

“These are all things I’ve made for people,” Safran Foer said. “I always liked making objects, and often if I’m going to someone’s house for dinner or something, I’ll bring something I’ve made. Almost all of them are a story inside something.”

“I give things to people when I want to express gratitude for little things, like a dinner, and big things. Oh, and birthdays.

From a friend, a gift to a friend is a great thing.”

“Some things in the world are made with care, and when you engage with things that are made with care, life is better.”

We asked Safran Foer if he writes the text on all of his objects.

“Always,” he said. “It’d only work that way.”

“I really liked this old watch kit. I found it on eBay. You can get everything on eBay. I used to get stuff at flea markets around New York, but now there aren’t many left. The one that was in Chelsea was great. That was my favorite thing in all of New York.”

“I made a whole bunch of things for a while with these stereo slide viewers,” Safran Foer said. “I would write a story where each slide was an image from the story.”

For this piece, Safran Foer used white paint to cover up words and reveal a phrase (similar to what he did with Tree of Codes, which was derived from Polish author Bruno Schulz’s The Street of Crocodiles).

Another example of Safran Foer’s artwork. We asked him who or what Pieve di Cadore was, and he couldn’t remember. We Googled it and found it’s a small town in Italy’s Belluno province, where the artist Titian was born.

All of Safran Foer’s pieces were on a table in his study.

While we were in Safran Foer’s study, we just had to take a look at his bookshelf. He said he used to buy books at library and yard sales, which is how he ended up with a lot of Tom Wolfe’s books.