CFDA 
Monthly Newsletter

July 2006

Inside this issue:

 - CFDA  meeting report -

Upcoming meetings - John Kriegshauser

CFDA Program Schedule for 2006                               

August 8         Unity Temple:  August’s meeting will be held at Frank Lloyd                                        Wright’s world famous Unity Temple in Oak Park, where we will be given the complete tour.  Lloyd Natof has organized this special opportunity, so don’t miss this one.

September 12   Jeremy Alexis: Designing for the Contract Furniture                                           Industry:  Jeremy Alexis is on the faculty of IIT’s Institute of Design and a practicing industrial designer.  Jeremy will share his contract furniture design experiences based largely on a project for Steelcase.

October 10     David Orth: Thinking About Design: David will present his                                        reflections on the process of design.  Expect some fresh                                          perspectives and eloquently formulated thoughts!

November 14  John Kriegshauser:  Designing Furniture Using Tetrahedrons: 

                        John continues along this path, and he will show techniques he has developed to conceptualize and build wooden tetrahedral furniture.

Upcoming Show Information:

Form Follows Form

9/21-10/28   

Architecturally Inspired Furniture @ Galvin Hall at IIT

Form Follows Form Call For Entries

Form Follows Form Application Form pdf

Article:

Collision at the Crossroads - John Kriegshauser

Impressions from the recent Furniture Society Conference in Indianapolis

The CFDA was well represented at the conference: Jeff Miller, Tor Faegre, Matt Hebert and I were all presenters.  While there I saw Lloyd Natof, Dolly Spragins and Scott Patria of Function + Art, who were attending the conference.  Also, Tom Tedrowe, who many will remember moved from Chicago to Indiana a few years ago, served on the organizing committee for the conference.  Otherwise, the Herron School of Design was crawling with the who’s who of North American studio furniture, as well as the aspiring and the curious.

Each day of the conference is organized into five time blocks, two in the morning, two in the afternoon and an evening activity.  These time blocks are separated by breaks and, of course, lunch.  Attendees can choose form either four or five competing presentations going on in each time block.  You will understand what goes on in these sessions, since Tor Faegre and Jeff Miller each gave the draft version of their presentations at recent CFDA meetings.

I have gone to four of these conferences, and the stimulation they provide does not seem to wear off.  While I never fail to find the presentations interesting, I always encounter a few that seriously enlarge my understanding and world view.  The other attendees will probably attest to the same experience.

At a general Furniture Society meeting in a large lecture hall, the leaders of the group discussed the future and direction of the organization with the membership at large.  They were concerned with a loss of momentum indicated by a decline in the growth of membership and less than predicted turn out at this year’s conference. 

One of their ideas was to develop local chapters which could more directly serve and involve the individual members who are spread across the continent.  They considered the CFDA and a similar group in New York City as potential models for local chapters.  Speaking to me earlier, Jeff Miller had compared the difficult task of organizing furniture people to “herding cats.”  I shared this simile at the meeting and it caught on rapidly as the apt description of the problem.

Next year’s Furniture Society Conference will be held next June in Victoria, British Columbia.  It is a beautiful city in a gorgeous natural setting.  Anyone who can make it will find it a rewarding experience.

- Announcements continued --