Cost vs Value
My work is expensive. That’s a fact. Another fact is I’m not getting wealthy building furniture by any means. I truly wish I were. But let’s unpack that statement for a minute and dissect the relationship between cost and value. The reasons are pretty simple. In order for me to produce work of the quality both you and I expect takes time. Sometime a lot of time. It also takes the best materials I can possibly find. Unfortunately these elements both have a price tag. My furniture is built to last a lifetime – or three. Your grandchildren will argue over who gets the dining set long after you’re gone. That brings me immense pleasure.
So, using the dining set as an example, let’s run the numbers. The Contemporary Wood and Metal Dining Table and the matching Contemporary Dining Chairs shown on my website were originally built in 1987. That’s 30 years ago. The family that owns them now raised their 2 sons using that table and chairs for everything from meals to homework, which is to say it’s been worked hard over those years. I’ve given it a good going over once in it’s life and it’s on it’s 2nd set of upholstery leather, but that’s it. No structural repairs of any kind. So at todays price the total for that set ( table and 6 chairs ) would be $ 19050 plus the cost of the upholstery. If you divide that by the 30 years it’s gone thus far (with another 30 or more left to go ) strength of that investment shows itself. Compare that to a less expensive set that would have been replaced maybe 10 times over and the value begins to really shine.
I’m willing to wager that you own, have owned or have sat in a chair who’s rear leg to apron joint is failing. You know the kind. When you sit in it and lean against the back it makes a creaking noise and gives a little (or a lot). That’s the leg to apron joint failing, probably on account of it is held together with dowels. I build all my chairs with mortise and tenon construction. That’s why they don’t fail. It takes more time, materials and much more involved machine methods, but it’s worth it to have a chair that will last generations. The same goes for table leg to apron joints.
I also do much of my own veneering. Factory made veneer panels are microscopically thin. When I lay up a veneer panel I start with heavy furniture grade veneers. Then I do the least amount of sanding possible to leave the heaviest possible veneer face. Again, a colossal amount of work, but far superior to store bought plywood panels. It also allows me to select the pattern that the veneer is laid. Some species look better with a a book match pattern, some with a “slip” match. On round or demilune table tops I prefer to use a radial pattern. It’s these subtle nuances that define a handmade piece and justify the cost.
Bringing Ideas to Life
Design Process
I’m frequently asked “what kind of furniture” do I design and build. I always stumble over the answer as there are several answers and more accurately ways to answer that question. In short I strive to build the type of furniture that suits the particular application well. That doesn’t necessarily mean matching, but sometime complementing and other times it’s meant to really stand out as a counterpoint to the environment.
I’ll run through some of my background here, and then how I distill those influences down into a workable design. I’m a west coast native – born in Northern California, but I only lived there until I was 8. Then, along with my family we moved to the East Coast – Wilmington Delaware to be exact. Little did I know that this would be a major guiding factor in my developing my own aesthetic. Wilmington is home to to numerous DuPont estates, museums & hotels. I began absorbing a very traditional background that would one day form my own foundation of design. We had family living in Massachusetts and New York so I was able to travel up and down the eastern seaboard frequently. I spent summers on the coast of Maine and had friends in northern New York state and Michigan, so I visited those regions, as well as Canada. The only direction I did not travel much as a kid is south. I spent a summer internship in a traditional wooden boat shop. That was a real eye opener. Curving lines intersecting in space – you can leave your square at home to build a boat… In spite of my years growing up in the east, my real home has always been the west. So, when I finished high school I packed up and returned to California.
I’ve been fortunate to travel to many places in the world and have brought influences home from all of them. I’ve been particularly inspired by the collection of Art Nouveau furniture in the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. Italy is also a favored stop for education and inspiration. There are few places on earth like Florence or Rome where simply walking down a street you can see several centuries of design evolution in a single city block.
How do I distill all of those experiences and influences down to a workable design for you? Well that’s where things get interesting. There is no set process or procedure. If there was it wouldn’t be an organic process. I also don’t wave a magic wand or go into a meditative trance with incense burning and sacrifices to the muses. If I’m designing something original I’ve usually had a burr under my saddle to explore and idea. Maybe it’s something that I dreamed up out of thin air. Maybe it’s something that I’ve gotten an idea from in my travels near or far. Either way, what I do is go about my day. I work in my shop, or row my shell and when a thought occurs I sketch it out on the first pieces of paper I can find. As those sketches pile up I begin the editing process. I once read a songwriters description of her method. She called it “spew and edit”… I suppose that’s about how I do it too. Sometimes I use those ideas directly. Other times they get warehoused in a sketch book or on a hard drive for a future project.
If It’s a custom commission I begin by listening to you, the customer. I try to put myself into your perspective, see the world through your eyes. We’ll look at existing designs, both mine and others, and we’ll begin to form an idea. From those ideas I’ll begin sketching, then 3-d modeling on a computer, and if necessary making full sized mock ups of the piece that we can all touch, feel & sit in or at. We’ll refine the ideas until we’ve got something unique, practical and timeless.
Then I’ll start in building. Almost as frequently as not what I imagined in my minds – eye or on paper doesn’t translate into the real world so I’ll constantly re-visit the concept until it’s reality and our visions align. Pretty simple, actually…
Bringing Designs Into Reality
Building Process
This is where the rubber hits the road. My shop is a fully equipped facility with both wood and metal working capabilities. If I can’t handle a process in house I’ve got an extensive network of local artisans I can call on to assist with virtually any material imaginable.
I use a combination of very traditional methods, and also some very modern ones to get a piece built. It is, after all, a business and we don’t get paid to show up – we have to produce. Sometimes it’s sensible to make a part using old school methods & sometimes it’s best to draw on modern technology. The point is that many paths will get you there – it’s up to me to choose the best, fastest and most efficient one.
I am a stickler for traditional joinery. There has never been a better way to put to pieces of wood together than with a mortise and tenon or dovetail joint. There is a very good reason that 200 year old furniture in museums is still holding together. It’s important to remember that the science of adhesives has come a long way in the last 75 years. I can remember as a kid having only a couple of choices, one being Elmers. Before modern glues, builders had to incorporate mechanical strength into their work or it simply would not stay together. Some forms of traditional asian joinery use no adhesives at all, but are held together with pins, wedges or keys. The entire structural integrity is in the joint itself. For these reasons you will very seldom to never find dowels used in my furniture. They are structurally inferior to mortise and tenon construction. In my furniture repair experience the main cause of failure is by far doweled joints.
Veneer work is also a big interest of mine. The finest woods are usually snapped up by the veneer manufacturers and cut into veneer. To some it has gotten a bad rap – plywood furniture… but in reality some of the finest examples of heirloom furniture found in museums are veneered. Using veneer is the only way a maker can have a repeating grain pattern, be it book matched, slip matched or butt matched. Absolutely stunning patterns can be achieved with marquetry and inlay methods. Historically all the specialties had a separate guild that handled their part of the production process. A veneer specialist was referred to as an Ébéniste in 17th century France. It comes from the root of Ebony, or a person who works with Ebony, which was the favored species of veneer for the top quality furniture being made.
Much of my work is multi-media. I enjoy metalworking and when appropriate I incorporate it into my work. The forged steel hardware and bases I make in house. I’ve got some youtube videos of me making bent forged handles if you’re interested. I’m an above average TIG welder as well. I built a number of executive office desks, which always had to go up or down in elevators to install. I found that building a steel structure underneath the wood was the most rigid way to have furniture that can be dis assembled and re- assembled on site in a busy office. As Mid-Century styles have once again become popular the metal structures have come out of the shadows and been given top billing again, as in my cabinet on a stand.
One thing I do not have in my shop is a CNC, or computer controlled router. However, I have designed and drafted on a computer for well over 20 years which gets me half way there on computer generated parts. I do subcontract work to a couple of different shops for cutting on their CNC router or laser cutting machines. Sometimes they’re patterns and sometimes they’re finished parts. Hopefully I won’t sound like a crusty old school woodworker, but I believe that a maker that has skipped learning the fundamentals of working with hand and conventional power tools will be limited if they jump straight to computer generated parts. You will simply never have a proper tactile response or intimacy with a material if you simply push a button and a machine spits out a part.