The Furniture Society's Annual Meeting at MIT

THE FURNITURE SOCIETY’S ANNUAL MEETING AT MIT

Copyright Vladimir Kagan 2010

 

The Furniture Society is a loosely knit but tightly bonded group of the best furniture designer makers in America and from around the world. They come in all sizes: Grizzly graybeards, beanie-hatted hipsters, young aficionados, and weathered craftsmen (a few with tips of their fingertips missing… a sure sign of a seasoned woodworker…I have had a mortal fear of my machines ever since I had to drive my best cabinet maker to the emergency room, holding his cut-off fingers in a towel…P.S. they did manage to sew them on again, almost as good a new!).

The Society meets once a year in diverse settings. This year’s conference: FS2010: FUSIONS met in Cambridge at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It was all about the fluid relationships between mind and hand, tools and materials, maker and client, technique and theory…. The conference brought together craftsmen and women, designers, collectors, educators and curators. There could not have been a more prestigious setting. MIT is a Mecca of architectural experimentation. Every worthy architect of the 20^th and 21^st Century had been commissioned to create one of their illustrious buildings: starting with the Beaux-Arts firm of McKim Mead and White, they moved on to the esthetic modernism of Eero Saarinen, and I. M. Pei’s sensitive consructionism and on to Frank Gehry deconstructionist Architecture building.

Within these exalted Halls the Furniture Society’s celebrated their 13^th Annual meeting.

 
 

MIT's $300 million Stata Center in Cambridge, designed by architect Frank Gehry, was completed in the spring of 2004. (In 2007 MIT's filed a negligence suit against  Frank Gehry, charging that flaws in his design of the $300 million Stata Center in Cambridge, one of the most celebrated works of architecture unveiled in years, caused leaks to spring, masonry to crack, mold to grow, and drainage to back up! (So much for Avante Garde architecture!...Vladi)

Amongst MIT’s well-known graduates have been George Nakashima and Ray Magliozzi of NPR’s Car Talk Show maker. Ray gave the Keynote speech and kept us in stitches with his aside annotations. We learned that he is really not all that much obsessed with cars and drives an old family clunker. He, not so coincidentally, is also a skilled furniture maker.

 

 

Ray Magliozzi and Vladimir Kagan at Furniture Conference at MIT

 The conference touched base on a broad range of subjects: Technology, going green, inspiration from the past, mind and hand connection and furniture forward. Heady stuff crammed into three days. Unfortunately, we were only able to participate the first day – and thereby missed other events including this year’s Award of Distinction given to John Cederquist – (last year, I was the fortunate recipient.) Unfortunately, other commitments forced us to miss the rest.

However, in our short stay we did take in a few of the workshops; visited three exhibits and had an enjoyable al fresco lunch with our old friend John Makepeace, who had flown over from England, to make a presentation the next day. Brooke Davis who is a whiz at working with C&C machines and recreates elaborate sculpting and 3D modeling in wood; Mark Bench, a delightful Englishman, living and working in Manhattan, is a member of the Board of Trustees and is deeply involved with the structure of the Society; Lili Jackson, Daughter of Ann Rockler Jackson of the Rockler woodworking and hardware supplier, and Scott Grove, a superb woodworker who worked for Wendell Castle (the bonhomie of furniture makers) as studio director and expanded his skills into other media such as Fiberglass and semi-precious gems.  Scott presented some wild veneering techniques at a later workshop, explaining his pioneered wavy contour seam and a spiral match. Scott just informed me that he had won the 2010 Veneer Tech Craftsman Challenge grand prize AND also took a merit award in one of the four other categories. (No one had ever taken two out of the five awards in the past).

 

   

 

Scott Grove’s veneering technique on one of his chest of drawers

 

Another furniture icon at the conference was Garry Knox Bennett, A man the size of a Grizzly and the sweetness of a Teddy Bear. In the 60’s, Garry turned pot smoking from a sub-culture into a million dollar enterprise by inventing and producing a better roach clip. Today he is a consummate craftsman: His work is entertaining and adventuresome. Garry has had numerous exhibits and books written about his work. Check him out in a book called “Made In Oakland: The Furniture of Garry Knox Bennett”.

 

In recent years Garry created 120 chairs, each a work of art: Unique, often whimsical. 52 of them were exhibited in the Bellevue Art Museum in Bellevue, Washington and traveled to five other venues over the next four years. The museum published a catalog in a beautifully illustrated book titled “Call Me Chairmaker”.

For the members’ exhibit: he signed one of these chairs with an original roach clip and a two-dollar bill and the word “perhaps”. To explain this tongue-in-cheek humor, it is tied to an earlier exhibit that was titled Historical Woods: the exhibit’s premise: Woods acquired from historic sites…. The Poplar wood used to make his spin-off of Gerrit Rietveld’s Zig Zag chair came from President Jefferson’s estate, (hence the two-dollar bill with Jefferson’s image on it.) The other corollary was that Jefferson was reputed to have grown hemp on his estate, (ostensibly for making rope and other useful items). Garry suggests “perhaps” with a roach clip)….  Jefferson was an innovator and was credited with having added the writing arm on a Windsor chair, as Garry did to the Z chair. 

 

Vladimir admiring Garry Knox Bennett’s paraphrase of Rietveld’s Zig-Zag Chair 

 
   ......and Garry's amusing “signature” under the seat.

 

 

Among the interesting presentations we attended, I particularly enjoyed Douglas Green’s well-organized lecture, Design and Crafting in the 21^st Century. He talked of his successful knockdown furniture collection, giving us ample illustrations visually and figuratively on their advantage such as shipping costs, ease of assembly and less obsolescence. He made a convincing case for licensing instead of craft production. (However, he did not convince me, as I have been there; tried it; and don’t like it) It seems that “The grass is always greener on the other side!” Doug has an idyllic 10,000 square foot workshop, fully equipped, in Portland Maine, which he is trying to bail out of. Anyone interested in relocating?  Here is your chance…. Were I younger, I would bite on it at once!

Douglas Green’s interpretation of Arts & Craft designs into his RTA (Ready To Assemble) dining room set.

 

Squeezed into our one-day’s tight agenda were visits to three exhibits of members’ works: The main exhibit in the Kresge Auditorium lobby, included works by makers from Historical Woods of America, who focused on projects made with recycled woods from historic sites such as Washington’s Mount Vernon estate and Jefferson’s Monticello. This exhibit was the brainchild of William Jewell and Jacques Vesery, both wood artisans. It was their vision to immortalize historic woods felled or harvested from America’s historic sites. The exhibit produced an amazing potpourri of works with spiritual legends written by each of the makers. A beautiful catalog accompanied the show and is well worthwhile acquiring or finding on the Internet: Historical Woods of America.

 Below are just a few of the examples that captivated me.

   
   Jack Slentz's sculpture carved in Washington-era Mount Vernon Oak

   

Jaques Vesery's exquisitely turned and sculpted vessel in multiple woods and semi-precious stone 

   

William Jewell's Console Table made of figured walnut and the skeleton of a Saguaro Cactus

Thomas Huckster's Pie Crust table from George Washington Distillery Walnut  

The second exhibit: 6 Degrees of Separation in the Compton Gallery, featured woodworkers form the six New England states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

            
 

My apology to the wonderful New England craftsmen for the small photos of their work... I cribbed them from the internet.

The Fly Fish Cabinet is by Cunningham. The Textured Sideboard by Bart Niswonger. The sheet covered chair and table: ' Until Next Year' are actually carved in wood by James Sagui. The delicate Cephalopod is by sculptor Maario Messina---- and the amusing "Adorn-meant" cabinet by Mark Del Guidice

 
 
 

The third exhibit was furniture makers trying their hand at outdoor furniture. It was spread over the lawn of the Kresge Green and proved to be a fun place to rest our buns in the fresh air between a full agendum of events.

 

  

Erica and Vladi taking a break on a straw couch, part of the outdoor furniture exhibit

 

 

If you are interested in fine furniture making or just good craft, this is the group to tie in with. For more information on the Furniture Society, visit www.furnituresociety.org

 

 

Comments

[Discount kitchen furniture]

Very good points you wrote here..Great stuff...I think you've made some truly interesting points.Keep up the good work.

[Rustic Log Furniture]

Some great designs. The zig-zag chair is truly one of a kind!

[smoke51 coupon]

I'm glad that you shared this helpful info with us.Smoking also gives any conversationalist the equivalent of a laser pointer. A cigarette can be used to enhance gesticulations, point to examples or direct an orchestra on the fly.

[Antivirus_man]

You write well will be waiting for your new publications.

[Teak Furniture Manufacturer]

looks very promising and close relation society, good luck from indonesia teak furniture manufacturer

[lena]

this very unique design, thanx

[JOBS_frend]

I liked your site, you are very interesting to write. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[Nike Free 7.0 V2]

safeguarded. A pleasant pair of tennis footwear needn't be flashy or highly-priced. As long as the actual goal is served finest, 1 ought to not go for seems.

[Solid Oak Tables]

I love that zigzag armed chair.. Wonder if up to how much weight could actually sit on it...

[contemporary platform beds]

I simply love that Zig-Zag chair!

[hgh]

Nice wooden things for life which are being used for the house hold look.

[contemporary platform beds]

That zig-zag chair is just out of this world.

[agicaglady]

must check designer bag sale expensive handbags online fashion hand bags , just clicks away

[discount furniture]

I ahve read with big interest your post about The Furniture Society's Annual Meeting at MIT. I'm working in this domain and read carfully any related articles. But i was especilly intrested in finding more info about this event.

[John Woods the patio furniture guy]

Furniture has evolved so much over the past years. It's good to see that we are keeping up with the times because nowadays it is essential to have the right furniture to suite ones needs. People have even gone so far as to using indoor furniture for outside and this concept has been carried out very well.

[mebel]

Just recently found your blog. I'm reading and enjoying. nice post n great blog. thanks 4 share