CFDA Newsletter

Program Schedules:

June 10 - " Chair Morph": a chronology of influences from the post modern style of Studio Alchemia to the deconstructivist style of post Nine Eleven , by Laura Drake. Laura is a new member who has entered a terrific chair in the Rising from Ashes show. This is your chance to get to meet her and learn the intricacies of current design trends.

July 8- Getting Paid for Design. Bill First, Tim Cozzens, Michael Koehler and Sean Scott will talk about the thorny problem of getting compensated for design work in the world of custom furniture. Come hear how these experienced designer/makers have dealt with this issue

August 12 - Michael Koehler: My work. Though new to the CFDA Michael has amassed a serious body of work which he will show and explain. Come see what he's been doing.

September 6 - Reproduction Furniture. John Gush will show examples of English and South African furniture that he has very exactingly reproduced. His shop is modestly equipped, so John relies on skill and ingenuity to deliver the spectacular craftsmanship evident in his pieces. John's work has been featured on the back cover of Fine Woodworking Magazine. Don't miss this one!

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CFDA Meeting Report:

CFDA Minutes - May 13, 2008

12 members and two guests in attendance

Chris called the meeting to order at 7:15PM with a quick summary of the Rising From Ashes and the Deceptive furniture shows. Dolly's been sending out regular updates on the status of our needs (both from venues and sponsors as well as from our own members) and so those are a good snapshot of the status of things with the RFA show.

The submission deadline for the Deceptive Furniture and Furnishings show is coming up shortly. All entries are due on May 27th. So far several CFDA and IDSA members have teamed up, and we look forward to seeing what kind of fruit this bears.

Go to www.deceptive-design.com for the entry, rules and other information.

Chris has been contacted by a lady who works with corporate and private acquisitions of furnishings and art objects. She still fondly remembers the Sustainable show and is is actively interested in whether the CFDA can put this show on again, for possible display in the main lobby of the Sears Tower. She was taken with the variety of color and form from that show, and, of course, the message. Given the duration of time between that prior show and today, it's reasonable to presume that some of the pieces may simply not be available any longer. And we have a number of new members who weren't around to submit pieces for the Sustainable show. The proposed time frame for this show is October of this year - right when we already have two big shows on the calendar. And the volume of proposed space would require at least thirty pieces in order for us to present something meaningful. So details and logistics for this request are things that we'd have to work out on a short time frame to either accept or pass on the opportunity.

Look for more information from Chris in the coming weeks about this.

Sean Scott reported that he's recently returned from the annual Milan, Italy show and said that he'd put together a summary for us through the Yahoo Groups list serve.

The business meeting concluded at 7:30

Program:

Hal Link is a fairly new member to the CFDA, but has been building in the Gothic and Medieval styles for years. He presented a raft of photographs of both historic originals and new pieces that he designed and built which were reinterpretations of the old forms.

Hal's work is a walk through the history of Western Civilization. His main influences seemed to be solidly grounded in the 13th and 14th centuries, a period where cathedral architecture and Church-based aesthetics governed the dominant forms, motifs and tastes in furniture.

A French painting, dating from 1298 and depicting a craftsman and his wife and child, showed us that the tools and working conditions for hand tool-based work have changed little in the intervening centuries. We easily recognize the tools and working conditions as similar to our own.

This was the time of the birth and rise of the Gothic cathedral. Soaring arches almost a hundred feet up, flying buttresses and acres of stained glass dominated the interior spaces. Hal shared several photos of surviving buildings from this era, from reliquary chapels to more humble timber framed barns. In each instance he showed how the architecture and the buildings' bones are what have informed the furnishings.

Furniture of the period served a much different role than it does today. The eye was towards portability and making the pieces break down for easy storage. Hal discussed that while the European nobility may have owned buildings in several locations, they often didn't have the money to furnish them all simultaneously. Thus the pieces of furniture traveled with them when they were in residence in multiple locations. Adding to this was the notion of multi-purpose rooms. For instance, long dining tables needed to be easily broken down and politely stored in corners as the meals concluded and the rooms were converted to other uses. It wasn't until the time of Henry VII that the nobility was affluent enough to furnish more than one building at a time.

Even the royalty used portable furnishings. X-brace folding chairs (think the kind of chair found behind the camera on modern movie sets) made from exotic materials and either with or without backs were widely in use by the Crown. Known as the 'seat of power', they traveled with the king so that he could rest comfortably wherever he went. Thus the X-brace form is historically one of importance.

Hal's X-brace chairs, including the one he's submitted for the Rising From Ashes show, clearly show that strength isn't a problem. These things are heavy as they are robust. And yet for all the strength they still manage to look graceful.

Chip carving also came into its own during this period. Hal presented several photographs showing beautifully carved rosettes and medallions and which seemed to have little rhyme or rhythm to their symmetry. It's presumed that the pieces shown were artisan-used items and which were meant as showcases for their work. But again, the forms have changed little through the years.

As we look at these old pieces we often see iron work laid atop the wood, as well as the use of metal nails and bolts. Hal's work in historical reproductions has shown him that they served as far more than aesthetic choices. In many cases they're structural. One anecdote demonstrated that a reproduction piece that he build and which didn't sport the iron work was easily broken. Adding back features like long-tang hinges provided the much-needed rigidity. This is the kind of revelation that's only possible when you live and work in the period style. Reportedly, the company Ball and Ball is a great resource for this kind of period metal work.

Most of the surviving pieces from this era are made from oak. But historical documents clearly show that work was also done in walnut. Hal remarked that most of this walnut work has been lost. Oak simply survives the ages better than walnut possibly could, lending the required structure and strength in context of the designs.

Pierced work was also a dominant motif. The shapes and forms used in arms and backs of chairs and the legs of tables closely mimicked the traditional Gothic arches and stained glass rosettes. It seemed that the play of light and shadow was high on everyone's mind. Of course, it also decreases the weight if the piece is intended be carried about! And when they're added to items like linen presses, that pierced work provided much-needed ventilation. These pierced forms are all about geometry and proportion. But compared to Classic Greek and Roman work, the details are loose. Irregular. Almost freeform. There seems to have been an intentional disregard for making everything as rigidly symmetrical and even as in prior periods. It's as if there was a cultivated lack of precision at this time in history. And, of course, this is what lends such striking personality and distinctiveness to the pieces. When viewed through the lens of history, or through Hal's many excellent modern interpretations, the Gothic and Medieval forms still stand up as coherent and strong forms. This is the foundation upon which the rest of our furnishings have rested for the past millenia. It's no wonder that some so-called 'modern' designs still have a short, straight lineage to this earlier work.

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Member Profile:
Tor Faegre
www.torfaegre.com

I built my first table when I was 16. I used some spruce poles cut from the New Hampshire woods where I grew up and fastened them to old 2x12s from a barn. It was supposed to be a workbench. I had seen a catalog of Wharton Esherick's designs and copied his style of stretchers set just inches from the floor. Not a good idea as the bench turned out to be awfully wobbly.
I had forgotten all this until someone asked me how I had gotten started in rustic furniture and I remembered this early attempt at furniture making. My real start in rustic came from an article on Dan Mack in the Woodshop News. Mack went on to become famous for his chairs made out of maple saplings (and sometimes old tools) and now has five books out. He generously includes examples from hundreds of current makers. At the time there were no books on rustic that I knew of, but I was familiar with the style. I had seen examples, usually kicking around in the back of antique shops, in a state of collapse. I decided to try my hand and started by bending and tying willow poles in the back yard to make a chair. It was very uncomfortable but had possibilities if you added lots of pillows.
I tried out other forms: plant stands, trellises, lamps, coat racks, tables and mirrors. A local gallery offered me a show and the work sold well (at give away prices, I might add). Then I discovered outdoor art fairs. Over time I learned to apply to the better fairs and as my work improved and my slides became more professional looking I found myself on a three season circuit of art fairs ranging from Kansas City to Connecticut. Next I did the American Craft Council's wholesale show in Baltimore and began to ship orders to galleries and museum shops. The retail and wholesale shows made it possible for me to begin to turn down the carpentry/cabinet jobs that had been my bread and butter for many years.
I had always wanted to become more of a working artist, but selling a few paintings and etchings here and there never seemed to get me closer to that goal. Art fairs had a great advantage over galleries for me--they had deadlines. And once you paid your booth fee of anywhere from $100 to $2000 you had better show up and try and sell some art and at least recoup your booth fee.
Eventually trying to juggle retail shows and a growing wholesale business got to be too much. Packing and shipping seemed to take more time than making most pieces. I jettisoned wholesale sales and concentrated on from ten to twenty art fairs from spring to autumn.
Over time I was lucky to get a few commissions that combined my construction and furniture-making skills. So I began to cut back on the art fairs. The best was a job constructing three stories of stair railing using bamboo balusters. My Veritas tenon cutter (designed for rustic construction) saved the day making dozens of bamboo tenons to fit the fir rail to the treads. (My ability to draw and to construct models are also what helped to sell this unorthodox, never-before-tried-out idea.)
Over the years I've tried out other forms of rustic. Assisting a couple of artists at the Evanston Art Center make large out door sculptures led me to submit sculptural ideas. This led to a twig and branch "L" Train exhibited in a number of places. Next I built three large "Watchtowers" out of buckthorn for Ryerson Woods. I like these projects. You get to work outside and you don't need precise joinery. It's more akin to the rough house framing I started out with as a union carpenter.
Looking back, I've always liked making things. It's the making more than the object that's important. Every niche I've tried out---rough framing, trim, cabinet work, building for designers, making my own furniture--- has been a challenge for a while, but my restless hands always want to try out other forms and the tools that are needed. I now use pruning shears and saws more that the planes and chisels from my tool box.
My favorite is still rustic because every twig and branch is unique and represents a challenge to work into a design. I start the day gathering materials in forgotten places---abandoned lots and river banks for buckthorn, willow, cottonwood and maple. It's so much a better way to start than the lumber yard (tho the Horigans are an exception to this). The price is right and hunting twigs and branches keeps me nosing about the natural world.
When I started making rustic I thought it might be one of those short-lived design styles. Corian was edging out Formica, and even now I understand granite is becoming passe. (If I could figure out how to make durable counter tops out of willow bark I'm sure I could go back to kitchen design.) But rustic seems to be as popular as ever. The new "green" movement has given it a new life. I couldn't ask for more.