The Element of Design.........Balance usually starts and ends in discussion with a piece having visual balance and structural balance.

Lets take the element of balance one step further in the Design process. A place where its never thought of.

This post intro's with a sound clip from the Chris Schwarz interview by Matt of Matts Basement Workshop. If you are a listener of the Basement Workshop, many of you will agree, that few just plan love the craft more than Matt.

I address and rededicate my passion for the Build and lead into a video produced for the Furniture Society Blog blogmaster David Richardson.

The video goes into the shop of David Ebner, where he graciously shares his craft in demonstartion. Mr Ebner will be a presenter at this years Furniture Society Conference.

Enjoy this post, it was fun to produce.

This is my entry into the Fine Woodworking Maple Build-off Challenge. Come along for a trip down my design process on this multi-functional piece of furniture.

Gigi calls it: "Morning Coffee and a Crossword" the piece is her crossword puzzle work station. Is the unit a lighting fixture? an end table? a magazine rack?, it's all three.

Learn more of Wendell Castle and investigate the genius of Achille Castiglioni.

And let me know what you think of this Wendell Castle inspired, functional sculpture.

ENJOY!!!!!!

Here's the Popular Woodworking Blog post seeking your work.

This is a very important interview for the furniture design and woodworking community as a whole with Wendell Castle.

Those of you who follow the blog are prepared for this interview. You have been exposed to his web site, gone through his design process, and I have built a piece inspired by Castle in stack and bent lamination, techniques that Castle brought to the forefront in pushing furniture design. This interview is the culmination of presenting to you, a very important figure in our craft.

We all know Maloof, Nakishima, and Carpenter, but it was Wendell Castle who pushed the boundaries of art and furniture. And one of the original 5 to open the Smithsonians', Renwick Gallery.

Enjoy part 1 of the interview, I'm excited to be with Wendell, and we go into areas other individuals wouldn't know how to get to.

Prior to our sit-down, Mr Castle menioned he didn't know the answers to many of my questions, but that's OK, lets just go somewhere. What a great opportunity this approach provided me and it played out to the max.

Enjoy.................. history will prove this interview to be very important.

Neil

Here's the conclusion to our time with Wendell Castle. We dive in again and touch all aspects of his career. Starting where we left off at "Extreme" to how he uses the digital world in his work today. Wendell in passing even mentions the weak dollar and its effect on his building.

I hope you enjoy the conclusion as much as I enjoyed preparing us for Wendell Castle. 

Remember, Wendell Castle showed us how to look at furniture differently. So whether we are designing a Delaware Valley interpretation of Chippendale or entering the Design Process intent on a personal build..... look differently and move the target back!!!!!!

Neil

So Gigi and I took a road trip to East Hampton, MA to visit the famed marquetuer Silas Kopf. The time went to fast.

Silas took us through the making of a tulip that I've weaved in and out of our discussions on what form follows,  materials, creativity,  to what gets you excited, and even touch on searching for what's next.

Silas takes us on a shop tour and introduces us to his right hand and cabinetmaker Tom Coughlin. He discusses a current cabinet in production and we hit on traveling to visit historical objects.

Silas has written a book titled A Marquetry Odyssey, that has a place in the woodworkers library and also the coffee table to enlighten those who visit.

Enjoy.......a podcast doesn't get much better than this!!

So I met Justin DiPalma for the first time face to face in May 2008 in my kitchen. Our first introduction was through the internet and we decided to drive up to T-Chisel's shop in Boston for a woodworker's weekend together. A good friendship evolved. We talked woodworking and the direction of woodworking, his personal preferences to woodworking, dream pieces to build and then he mentioned a juried show he applied to. Justin hadn't heard if he'd been accepted yet.

THEN.............at the 12 hour, the acceptance letter came. The BIG Hustle was on.

Under real tight time constraints, Justin met every objective including the completion of one of his dream pieces.......his interpretation of a Delaware Valley  Lowboy.

After observing Justin work in Boston and seeing his passion for the craft,   I had to see him in his first Craft Show.

Here's to Justin DiPalma.....stepp'in up a level.

Enjoy!!!!!

Here's a new twist to the offerings. We'll be reviewing a book published by the Taunton Press called Building Doors and Drawers: A Complete Guide to Design and Construction by Andy Rae.

Enjoy!!!

One more loose end to pick up, Carlo is just around the corner.

January 26th 2007...... the Furniture Industry lost one of its Furniture Design Masters, Hans Wegner.

I had the opportunity to talk of Hans Wegner with Erik Hansen of Carl Hansen & Son a manufacturer of Hans Wegner's Designs.

Enjoy this interview and look further in thoughts of "Danish Modern", investigate the ethos of the Scandinavian woodworker.  There is do much to draw from.

Well Carlo has us in amongst his work and it is wonderful. This episode the 5th in the building of a Carlo Mollino Coffe Table is loaded with different approachs to woodworking. It will open and fill-up your furniture designer's tool box.

I am hoping that as you watch you will see new options that you can use in your own work. An approach to clamping, using a router on curves more efficiently, and understanding that you must look for curviture.

It's been a while so enjoy and savor some new woodworking options!!!!!!!

Furniture design can take the form of many different shapes. In episode four of our Carlo Mollino inspired coffee table, we find....our...shape.

From a picture to full scale drawering, to the construction of our bending form, you'll see our bending ply take a shape Carlo Mollino would be proud of. One of Birds-eye maple the other of Plum Pudding Mahogany.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!!!!

Carlo would.

In this the third installment on a furniture design inspired by Carlo Mollino, we prep our bending ply, build our bending form, and construct a fixture for a machine operation, specific to the router.

This woodworking podcast presents alot of woodworking material, you'll witness how traditional woodworking meets contemporary materials.

The episode expressed an opinion on how a furniture design is mentally pushed forward by always having a prepared solution.

This Carlo Mollino video continues to encourage and push the Basement Garage woodworker to explore furniture design.

ENJOY!!!!

Here's our second episode on the Carlo Mollino inspired coffee table. Our homage to the charismatic Italian Architect and Designer from Turin Italy.

We start with a snap of furniture history and begin to develope the atmosphere that Carlo was trained in and worked arounded.

Construction engineering is dealt with in this Mollino furniture design and a present day solution is found. Our bending form template is completed and we press our 2-ply, the answer to our construction issue.

This Carlo Mollino form just gets more exciting.

Enjoy........Neil

So welcome to the world of Carlo. Carlo Mollino that is. This is the first Episode of interpretting a glass top coffee table, inspired by Italian Designer Carlo Mollino.

It's a bent plywood piece that we'll produce with a finished surface of Bird-eye Maple and maple trim.

Furniture design moves forward and stalls then forward again only to stall, Carlo Mollino was a Furniture Designer always in forward position.

Come along for the ride as we investigate the life and interprret one of his famous pieces. It's a complex build but Carlo wouldn't have it any other way.

So hop in the Bisiluro and lets go!!!!!

Well we've come to the end of the Contemporary Lingerie Cabinet.

In this Episode we evaluate the entire finished case, we revisit some of the important design elements, discuss how important they are in the final appearance of the Quarter Sawn Ash Lingerie Cabinet, and answer some e-mail questions.

This is a Modern piece of furniture done with a minimalist approach so there is nowhere to hide poor craftsmanship. The cabinet is a very, very good build.

Enjoy and look forward to our next project as we investigate Italian designer Carlo Mollino.

Neil

The interview presents a very creative designer who plans on using the process of Rotational molding, which exposes us to a second manufacturing process available to furniture designers.

Our Contemporary Lingerie Cabinet is complete and you'll get your first look at here. The build had an excellent end result and needs its own post.

I'm back from vacation, a nice bareboat cruise through the Pacific Northwest, summer is ending and it time for a new peoject.

Enjoy this interview and look for the Lingerie finale and the start of a new project.

Neil

The cradle you see on the cover of the September 2007 issue of WOOD Magazine is my winning design from WOOD Magazine's  Build-a-Gift Contest.

Kevin Boyle and the editors at WOOD did a fabulous job. The magazine write-up is excellent, complete with full scale templates. A slide show produced by the editors is also availble for viewing, at the WOOD web-site.

The video we've produced here, goes through the design progression that lead to being the featurer project. As you continue to build, you will find you have designs at the ready.

Enjoy and please share in my excitement.

Neil

Back to our Contemporary Lingerie Cabinet and Webisode08. Here we've disassembled the case, labeled parts, final sanded and final finished to match our Finish Sample from Episode07.

It's a well executed episode that turns sample finiahing into reality.

Enjoy........

As most follow and look to Sam Maloof, James Krenov, or Nakashima for their readings and inspiration, I look to the ground breaking furniture manufacturer, DJ DePree who lives on through the firm he created; Herman Miller.

I'm very excited to present this interview with Karn Adams a Retail Development Specialist at Herman Miller and hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

D.J. DePree is our greatest furniture manufacturer.

Enjoy the history and answers that Karn so wonderfully provides.

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Aimee less is a designer living in California. Her interview provides nuggets of information on design thought specific to her shell chair...The Derby.

Enjoy this interview on seating from the International Contemporary Furniture Fair.

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