CFDA Newsletter

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

AUGUST MEETING - August 14th, 6:00 P.M. at BRETFORD

11000 Seymour Ave.
Franklin Park, IL. 60131

People can pull maps from the Bretford website at: http://www.bretford.com/find/locations.asp

Program Schedules:

August 14 - Chris Brandel: Designing for Production
Chris worked as part of a team designing a new table for Bretford, Inc., the firm he works for. This is a wood composite table that has to perform under demanding institutional use. Chris will walk us through the process of design and show us the sophisticated equipment Bretford uses to manufacture it. If you have not yet seen the plant of this growing local manufacturer, do not miss this opportunity!

Chris Brandel
Product Development
cbrandel@bretford.com
847.678.2545 EXT 342
Please take a moment to visit our new Web Site at http://www.bretford.com

September 11 - Let's Talk About Ash - Bruce and Erica Horigan
Next year's show at the Morton Arboretum will celebrate ash, which because of the destructive effect of the emerald ash borer, is going to be in abundant supply for the next few years. Bruce and Erica will talk about the wood, the beetle and the special working properties of ash. Ash has always been a prominent wood in Japanese furniture, but not so much in the western tradition. Let's find out what we need to know to insert ash into the western tradition! If you have experience working with ash, come tell about it. It's time to begin designing.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CFDA Meeting Report:

CFDA Minutes - July 10th, 2007

Meeting started 7:08PM

ISDA Show
Projected date: Oct 2008

Presentation proposal to ISDA will be in mid August. The show committee is still working out the details.

The Chicago Cultural Center sounds excited about doing the show. They were very happy with the results of the Sustainability Show.

Ash Borer Show

Projected dates- August 2008 at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle IL

This is probably going to be a traveling show. Dolly met with Mark Younger and Linda Lutz about space in Evanston for the show earlier today. The wood utilization team (a group helping to deal with Emerald Ash Borer problems in IL) has received a matching grant and can be approached about some funding to help the show. This will be a juried show and the thought is to jury it early so that there will be a good selection for the PR cameras.

The Morton Arb. wants to push the education side of this with large outdoor pieces, demonstrations and informational signage (some of this may be commissioned or expensable.)

The purpose of the show is to show the uses and beauty of Ash.

A show web site will be looked into and possibly linked to the Arboretum site.

Other venues are being discussed.

Please contact Dolly if you have ideas.

Call for volunteers:

Dolly needs help with many of the aspects of the show. Please contact her so that we can put on a great show.

NEW MEMBER
Philip Haywood, IIT and working also at Crooked Oak in western suburbs, Welcome!

Treasury
Is okay at the present time

Other Business

The Yahoo Group is going well

Please sign up if you haven't yet.

Linden Publishing-

These are the publishers for Jeff Miller's latest book. John K has a pamphlet which lists many interesting books that this publisher has available.

MEETING PROGRAM

Lisa Richardson Elkins, Architect

2- Point Perspective sustainable design studio

Began with furniture design class at Ball State learning about wood and it's characteristics.

Moved to San Francisco after school and started into the world of transformable furniture to deal with small spaces like her apartment.

Then went to graduate school in London where she focused on merging architecture and furniture. Currently she and her husband are running 2 - Point Perspective, a studio/gallery which focuses on architecture and furniture using more sustainable options.

Secy, Bruce Horigan

EXECUTIVE BOARD MINUTES -
Meeting - July 18th 6:30 Wed at Chris Brandel's Residence

In attendance at Chris Brandel's: Antanas Abraitis, Chris Brandel, Lloyd Natof, John Kriegshauser, Rob Frazier, Dolly Spragins, Jan Sopoci and Matt Speer.

1. Treasurer's Report Lloyd Natof reported that we have roughly $3800 in the treasury.

a. Pradeep Shimpi and other long time members who are delinquent in their dues are being retained on an "inactive members list."

b. The Executive Board will have to decide what to do with inactive members at a later meeting. We discussed dropping them from the newsletter mailing list; removing their designer page from the website; charging them a reactivation fee when they reapplied for membership, and so on.

c. The 2006 books have not been reconciled and we might leave them that way because of the time required to straighten them out.

d. Our membership is growing to the point where we now have 48 members.

e. Chris has a friend who is a grant writer and who claims he could get money for us if we could change our corporate designation to a 501 C3.

f. Lloyd still sees advantages to staying with QuickBooks.

2.Membership Have Barry and Tim been sending out the membership packets to the new members? Lloyd will check with them to find out.

3. Website

a. We are happy with the traffic that our website gets, but John K. thought we should establish links to reciprocating websites to boost traffic even further. Others thought that we should just link to websites we thought might be interesting.

b. Websites we might link with include: Woodcraft Supply, Chicago Cultural Center, Morton Arboretum, IDSA Chicago.org, Core 77.com, Apartment Therapy and Supplier's websites.

4. Meetings' Programs

a. Chris will do a program at Bretford in August based on a project just completed.

b. Chris will contact Mark Steffaneigel to do a presentation on Interior Architecture.

c. John will organize programs to stimulate participation in the Ash Borer Show.

5. Board Election Candidates

a. Antanas Abraitis, John Kriegshauser, Lloyd Natof and Matt Speer will stand for re-election.

b. John will contact Sean Scott, Maxine Snider, Pradeep Shimpi, Burt Engelberg, Barry Newstat and Helen Maria Nugent about their willingness to serve again.

c. By newsletter and e-mail we will canvas the membership to fill any vacancies.

6. Officer Elections

a. President--Chris Brandel will stand for election one last time.

b. Vice-President--Jan Sopoci will stand for election again.

c. Secretary--Matt Seiler will stand for election to Bruce Horigan's relief.

d. Treasurer--Lloyd Natof is willing to serve one more time if he can leave 2006 unreconciled.

e. Newsletter--Rob Frazier is willing to serve again.

f. Membership Committee--

g. Program Committee--John Kriegshauser who wants a co-chairman to help.

h. Show chairman--

i. Webmaster--Phil Haywood

j. Yahoo Group Chairman--Chris Brandel

k. Possible candidates for officer or Board positions:

Dolly Spragins

Jamie Lis Stevens

Lisa Elkins

John Jaqua

Phil Haywood

7. Future Shows

a. We need a show chairman to begin looking towards 2009 and beyond.

b. Dolly thinks our members need to develop lower priced items.

c. Saslow is tired of the CFDA, but Robert Black Gallery, recommended by Lloyd Natof is a possible venue as is the Aesthetic Eye once they get established in there new location.

8. Deceptive Furniture Show

a. The Chicago Cultural Center is a possible venue for October 2008-January 2009.

b. The Hyde Park Art Center is another possible venue.

c. Chris will meet with Emily, the IDSA secretary to hammer out specific proposals.

9. Ash Borer Show

a. Dolly Spragins reported that the Morton Arboretum is excited about the show, which is tentatively scheduled from mid-August through September of 2008.

b. Dolly passed around an organizational template for the show that gave a rough draft of how pieces would be solicited and juried, publicity generated and money raised.

c. The immediate tasks are to put together a show committee, determine a name for the show and explore options for the show to travel to other venues.

10. Next meeting Wednesday, October 17

Submitted by Chm. John Kriegshauser

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Member Profile:
Tim Cozzens

photo by Barry Brechelsen

Tim is currently the head of workshop/Cozzens, Inc., a custom studio producing commissioned furniture, cabinetry, lighting and decorative elements. He began this practice in 1991 following graduation from the School for American Crafts at Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY), where he received an MFA in Furniture Design and Woodworking, minoring in Metalwork and Jewelry. In addition to commissioned works, he produces speculative pieces for exhibition. His next piece, Entry Table #14, will be shown at the Faculty Exhibition at Columbia College Chicago's A+D Gallery, located on South Wabash Avenue, in August.

Tim has been on the faculty of the Art+Design Department at Columbia College since 2002, following faculty positions at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Penland School of Crafts, The University of Notre Dame, and Northern Illinois University. Married, with two children, he resides in Oak Park. He moved his studio from the west side of Chicago to a barn built in 1865, which he is currently in the midst of renovating.

Tim grew up with a father who made a living as a furniture maker long before marrying and having children. Every time the family moved, which was quite often, one of the first priorities was setting up shop in the new home. Having never considered furniture making as a career in high school, Tim pursued a BFA in Interior Architecture and began his career working for numerous design and architectural firms in Chicago and New York. Always wanting to visit the shops and studios fabricating the designs, Cozzens found himself aching to actually build some of the work. The smell of saw dust and manufacturing facilities always held an allure. Shortly before making the decision to return to graduate school, he received his first commission from a graphic design company whose offices he was designing. This solidified the direction he would pursue.

Tim has been a member of the CFDA since 1993 and has served on the Board. He is also a member of the Furniture Society. Having exhibited since 1990, he as had works in various CFDA exhibitions, as well as Curv-iture, the traveling exhibition mounted by the Furniture Society in 2004. He works in a variety of media, and from a variety of influences. These include nature, the art, architecture, and design of turn-of-the-century Vienna, contemporary fashion, contemporary architecture, alternative materials and heavy industrial processes.