CFDA Newsletter

Announcements:

Program: June program will be on built in cabinets. Lloyd will be moderating the program.

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CFDA Meeting Report:

CFDA Minutes - Meeting May, 2009

18 members and one guest in attendance.

Chris called the meeting to order at 7:20 with a summary of the Milwaukee Fine Furniture and Furnishings show, to be held at the beginning of October. At the time of the meeting the status of the Rising From Ashes show's presence was under discussion, as the venue has changed and so the available space for the RFA show was in doubt.

The new venue is the Harley Davidson Center, a new conference center located in downtown Milwaukee. It is significantly smaller in size than the Midwest Center, where the show had previously been held. As such, an expansive lobby area, which would have housed a special purpose display like the RFA show, doesn't exist as it did at the Midwest Center.

The Madison, Wisconsin slot for the Spring 1020 leg of the RFA show is also in doubt at the moment. Reportedly they lost funding for their new special-use space. This impacts us as there will no longer be room for us and the show.

The NeoCon show is moving swimmingly, with Dan Diewald taking the lead on getting the logistics finalized. The commitment forms are in and 13 members want to display. They are going through the process of layout and pedestal size/color requirements. Each member needs to hand-carry their piece (no carts, actually), otherwise they will charge you for cartage from the portal to the display location. The budget for this show is nearly finalized.

Jamie Stevens is beginning to archive a history of the CFDA, creating a structure for the archival efforts.

Our treasury has a positive cash flow.

The Board is taking direction for future shows and is working towards a prioritized order for the process.

Last month's meeting, which was held at Hafele, was a rousing success. Sherry, at Hafele, said that we're welcome back any time for future functions.

For the benefit of our guest we did introductions all around.

Chris solicited for new bios for the newsletter. So if you haven't been featured in a while please send Rob Frazier your updated information for future inclusion in the bio section. Likewise, if you've encountered any good reading in our industry, please pass along the titles and any other information to Rob for inclusion in the newsletter. ( rgfrazier2@gmail.com )

The Board is moving to a 501C3 tax status, which would make us eligible for grants and tax deductible donations. What this essentially does for us is make us able to go after funding that had previously been unavailable so long as the activities have a significant educational component.

The business meeting concluded at 7:40

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Program:
Magazines and Periodicals within our industry
with Matt Seiler and John Kriegshauser moderating

This was a moderated round-table discussion, with many people bringing very interesting points to the table.

As furniture designers we often find ourselves at something of a crossroads in terms of the types of periodicals that serve our needs. And traditionally that means that we find ourselves betwixt and between craft-based magazines and true 'design' based periodicals. Each serves a different function, and some have observed that each serves only a portion of our requirements.

The periodicals seem to range from widely available newsstand copies, to somewhat less available trade magazines and organization-based magazines. Their content ranges from rehashing older ideas to expressing new and fresh concepts. And lately we also find that the information is presented to us in multiple forms.

A good deal of focus is lately being spent by these magazines for web-only content. The internet has injected itself into the time, energy and efforts of the various editorial staffs. Large dollar amounts are being spent on web development, presumably diverted from what used to serve the print version. In some instances we're to the point where the print magazine is often a teaser for more in-depth, multimedia content found at their respective websites.

Ironically, when we were polled at the table we overwhelmingly agreed that print magazines were more desirable than web content. We seem to like to hold the magazines in our hands, or to have them spread before us when creating new designs of our own. So in one sense, with the rise of the internet revolution, we may be finding ourselves behind a certain kind of curve. Perhaps that requires a rethink of how and where we go to seek our information.

Where the print magazines are concerned, the craft-based ones tend towards DIY projects, with a select few serving the role of bringing together art, design and fabrication. Conversely, the design-only based periodicals seem to largely trend towards architectural considerations. And when furniture is featured in the photo layouts it is often subservient to the architecture. So as furniture designers we need to peruse a variety of sources to find the information that we need.

We not only need to concern ourselves with the technical execution of a design, but also need to keep abreast of the changing materials, textures, colors and forms of today's cutting edge designs. This exploration process is exciting and opens many doors to new avenues of design expression.

But in recent months we've seen significant changes to the craft-based side. Matt Seiler is actively involved in this milieu, serving as the main forum moderator for Wood Magazine online and contributing tool review articles for print. As such, he's had the ability to talk with the editors and the publisher of the magazine at length. And what's been revealed sheds a little light on how this segment of the periodical world has recently had to change.

The newsstand, craft magazines serve an increasingly aging demographic. Where the average age of subscribers used to be in their '30's, we now see that much of the subscriber base is approaching retirement age. And the nature of the articles is changing to keep pace with their target readership.

Several magazines have changed editorial directions entirely, and others which served a unique role of design, art and fabrication, such as Woodwork, are no longer being published. Some at the table noted that a large part of print space is now being spent on things like creating the umpteenth-version of a router table or other shop-based build out projects. Looking at the target demographic, in terms of retirees who need to shoehorn a shop into smaller retirement homes during their twilight years, this makes a certain amount of sense.

So as furniture designers, we see the newsstand craft-based magazines drifting farther and farther from our needs. As with all magazines, ad space fuels the engine. And as such, the change in demographic changes the target ads, and thus our needs are unfulfilled.

Whereas in the case of shop-based magazines, they do continue to focus on the fabrication side of the house. But here what we're generally presented with are the tools and methods to do the job. They tell us little about what job we're actively pursuing. While valuable on one side, it doesn't feed the ever-hungry design beast.

Trade magazines, often which can be had for free if you subscribe as as business entity, are another avenue of valuable information. They do seem to walk a line between substance and ad content. And what they have to show us is significantly more advanced than the craft periodicals. They can provide a glimpse into the worlds of some of the major contract manufacturers and what kinds of products, and thus design, that they're offering. Their use of materials and integrated designs using multiple disciplines can be quite revealing.

Unfortunately, most of the magazines that we collectively read are not broadly appealing. They each serve a specific type of niche, and often that brings with it a narrow focus in terms of its design aesthetic. The round table discussion revealed that some find the writing bad, the ads are overwhelming, and that they can sometimes serve as lessons in what not to do.

Another way of looking at the issue is to discover that newsstand-type magazines serve a very different role than organizational publications. The new, the fresh and the exciting is often the bread and butter of the organizations, such as the Furniture Society. What we find on the newsstands is stale by comparison - often tragically so.

One observation at the table was that the wood and metal based publications are declining as new materials take center state in the world of design. Composites and other man made materials are surging. The new materials allow for new forms that would never have been possible before. They provide a break from the status quo and can raise more than a few eyebrows in terms of what's now possible.

There is certainly no single magazine that can serve our needs. As designers, with some being fabricators, we walk in two, and sometimes three or more worlds. But at the end of the day what we're looking for are cues to design. Which, after all, is the idea of the thing rather than the thing, itself.

We need these periodicals to show us the way to what is possible, and to provide an underlayment of what is in The Now so that we can bring something for The Future. Design periodicals are nearly always backward-looking. They demonstrate what has already happened. We use them to tell us what will happen in the future. And that's no small thing.

Various Resources mentioned during the course of the meeting:

Wood
American Woodworker
Fine Woodworking
Woodwork
Woodshop News
Metropolitan Home
Domus
Architectural Digest
Dwell
Metropolis
Wood and Wood Products
Modern Woodworking
Custom Woodworking Business
The Furniture Society's journal
Eye For Design

Websites:
Core77
Design-milk
blog.makemagazine
weburbanist
dezeen
freshome

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