A Visit with the Artists
Copyright Vladimir Kagan, April 3, 2014
Last month’s Architectural Digest Home show at the Piers in New York has long been dismantled - replaced with a Dog or fashion show… But the memory lingers on.
My "Four Days in New York” Blog was liked by so many of you, that I felt the craftsmen and women, who’s work I had admired, deserve a better showing than my hastily snapped I-phone photos…. I’ve asked each of them to send me quality photos of their works along with an address where you can contact them. Below is the result:
VIRGINIA BLANCHARD
Virginia Blanchard grew up in Pelham, New York. After earning her B.A. in Russian from New York University and realizing that neither translating nor espionage would be the best career path for her, she began studying furniture making at the aptly named Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine. Virginia was seduced, and now lives and works in the Mid-Coast region of Maine. Time not spent designing and building furniture is devoted to restoring her 1840's ship captain's home. Her aesthetic derives primarily from her love of early 20th century European decorative arts.
Contact info.
Virginia Blanchard
914.282.7518
virginiablanchardfurniture.com
AARON SCOTT
Aaron Scott was born in 1974 in Southern Oregon. He studied philosophy at the University of Colorado, followed by graduate work in fine art and filmmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute. He moved to NYC in 1998 to make art and films - and eventually furniture. Scott’s art/design practice has been deeply influenced by the formal complexities found in nature - skeletal systems, plant forms, topography and cellular structure; he has also had a lifetime interest in mathematics, including structural engineering, topology, and tensile structures. Scott's art and design work has been exhibited at Voos Showroom, Brian Kish Gallery, 208 Gallery, ICFF, Wanted Design, and Architectural Digest Home Design Show. His lighting has been featured in Furniture Fashion and Design Duct. His film and performance work has been exhibited at Anthology Film Archives, Dixon Place, Abrons Art Center and the Lincoln Center.
Contact info.
Aaron Scott
140 Plymouth St., #1A
Brooklyn, NY 11201
541.227.1614
GREG KLASSEN
Greg Klassen is a furniture designer/maker in the Pacific Northwest. He calls his new River Collection “a celebration of the beauty that I find outside my front door.” His River Tables, made from locally salvaged trees, combine “rivers” of inlaid blue glass with the wood’s live edges to stunning effect. Klassen is an independent craftsman and his work is commissioned by a nation-wide clientele. He invites clients to visit his workshop where they are encouraged to be apart of his creative process, which includes choosing the wood for their very own table. Klassen lives in Lynden, Wash., with his wife and three young children. Twice each day you can find him gathering with his family for “fika” - a coffee break tradition he learned while studying furniture design in Sweden, at the Capellagården School of Craft & Design. See Klassen’s full body of work at gregklassen.com or shop his furniture collection at
Contact info.
[email protected] / 360-305-5070
JOHN DODD
John established John Dodd Studio in 1979 and has been designing and creating furniture full time for more than 35 years. His Studio is located in the Finger Lake Region of western NY.
He has created furniture for Private, Corporate and Ecclesiastical environments as well as active participation in Museum, Gallery and National Art Shows. He has received numerous awards include twice being a recipient of a Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts.
John Dodd is a graduate of the School for American Crafts: Furniture Design Program at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He has taught there ever since as an Adjunct, currently teaching a 3D Design course.
Contact info.
web site johndoddstudio.com
e-mail [email protected]
phone 585 229 4444
5434 County Road 33 / Canandaigua, NY 14424
PATRICK WEDER
Patrick Weder’s work marries streamlined architectural elegance with sculptural refinement that integrate seamlessly within residential and commercial spaces. Inspired by naturally occurring forms and pushing raw materials beyond the practical application, Weder created the combinations of Corian and wood in 2001 and continues to refine this pairing with concrete. Originally from Switzerland, Weder moved to New York in 1994 to pursue art and design. After numerous exhibitions and high-end architectural projects, his experience working with a diverse set of materials—such as steel, resin, stone, wire, sand, and paper—led him to begin his own business creating primarily site-specific handmade furniture and functional objects such as the PW honeycomb lamps.
Weder was selected to exhibit in the Makers Market at Socrates Sculpture Center and was awarded for his sculpture at Longhouse Planters On & Off. He continues to exhibit his unique pieces at the Architectural Digest, West Edge Design Fair and ICFF.
Contact info.
Patrick Weder Design
153 Roebling Street 3B
Brooklyn, NY 11211
347-210-2466
AMY GENSER
Amy Genser plays with paper and paint to explore her obsession with texture, pattern, and color. Evocative of natural forms and organic processes, her work is simultaneously irregular and ordered. She uses paper as pigment and constructs her pieces by layering, cutting, rolling, and combining paper.
The natural world is a clear source for Amy’s work. She is fascinated by the flow of water, the shape of beehives, and the organic irregularity of plants, flowers, rock formations, barnacles, moss, and seaweed. Her pieces bring to mind aerial landscape views, satellite imagery, and biological cellular processes.
Amy’s love affair with paper began in a paper-making class at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she got a masters degree in Graphic Design. Amy lives in West Hartford, CT with her husband and three sons, and spends her summers on the beach in Rhode Island.
www.amygenser.com or email her at [email protected].
....and finally: surprise-surprise MY RUG WAS FOUND!
Ashlee Harrison striking a pose on my silk rug at Atelier Courbet
ATELIER COURBET
Malanie Courbet, Ashlee Harrison and me at Art Basel Miami earlier this year... where the idea of a Vladi Rug was hatched
Melanie Courbet, Founder of Atelier Courbet
Melanie was an art and design consultant as well as an independent curator for international clients in Los Angeles, New York and Paris. Past experiences include collaborations the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, as well as the Musee des Arts Decoratifs at The Carrousel du Louvres, in Paris. Atelier Courbet was born from Melanie's taste and will to share the stories and provenance of the most skilled hands and makers: master craftspeople and their workshops.
“ Atelier Courbet shifts the usual curatorial angle from the artistic or the creative to the meticulous work of masters and craftsmen who carry-on centuries-old techniques and thereby our cultural heritage.”
Ashlee Harrison, Partner
With over 10 Years experience in luxury marketing and contemporary design, including her 5 year stint as director of the DCOTA near Miami and the D&D Building in Manhattan and as well overseeing marketing and communications for the Bal Harbour flagship of Saks Fifth Avenue.
Contact info.
175 / 177 Mott Street
New York NY 10012
212-226-7378
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