ABOUT US

Okecrafts is a company specializing in making handicrafts made from natural materials such as bamboo, wood, stone, terracotta, stone, etc.

We are also production and export of Table Lamps, Wooden Photo Frames, Wooden Mirror Frames, Natural Stone, Candle Holder and decorative Bowls and modern-living pine wood furniture.

All products are purely handcrafted, making them unique and have artistic value. Since they are made of natural materials, they are environmentally friendly.

This is a previous post, but I never did continue the discourse. I find it fascinating how furniture design has evolved over the centuries. If we go back to the middle ages and the era before, quite a few developments in furniture construction techniques were in progress. Prior to this era, in the centuries before, very little furniture was available, it was considered a luxury to have chairs, tables and cabinets. The larger, more finely made furniture of this era was typically destined for the aristocracy of the time as a display of their wealth and status.

Most conventional furniture of these early periods was assembled without consideration to wood expansion and contraction or wood movement. This worked for many years, since the interior of buildings in this era was often at the same temperature as the exterior. With the advent of heated interiors, wood movement became much more of a factor to deal with in construction and design of furniture, and the practice of simply assembling wood planks together to form furniture needed to evolve. It was in the middle ages that frame and panel construction was adopted. This technique allowed a solid wood panel to literally float within a wood frame composed of rails and stiles. The solid wood panel could expand and contract on a seasonal basis, and not cause any structural failure within the furniture.

All of a sudden many more possibilities were created for furniture design and its widespread appeal began in earnest. Furniture also began to become more affordable as of the 18th and 19th century, more furniture makers existed and sound construction techniques began to become standardized. There are numerous periods over the past centuries and each of these had a style or styles associated with them. Additionally, each country had a style of its own within these periods. One can see how similar furniture design principles were adopted by successive countries over the different periods. Popular furniture styles which are widely recognized have familiar names such as English Chippendale, German Biedermeier, American Federal and Arts & Crafts, French Art Nouveau, Italian Rococo, etc. The evolution continues to more recent styles such as Modern Swedish ( Krenov style) and Contemporary styles.

One interesting tidbit is that a style of furniture is never really defined until the particular period has elapsed, almost like looking through a rear view mirror. Today's styles might be referred to as a particular period of style, but only after the period has lapsed. In the photo, a small swedish modern styled tabletop cabinet . To be continued...

I sometimes ask myself, what constitutes good design. Is it the aesthetics of the piece, the pleasing proportions, the balance of form and function... or all these characteristics combined? Taking a step back, the aesthetics and pleasing proportions are definitely at the forefront. I'm usually drawn to a piece of furniture that stands out with respect to the "look" of the piece. This one characteristic causes me to stop and further examine the piece by trying to understand what has drawn me to this particular design over another design on the same page. This analysis helps me in my own design process as I better understand what characteristics of a piece of furniture I am drawn to. Of course, we all have different styles of furniture that we are drawn to, but the common theme is good design. I am convinced that even an admirer of period styles of furniture will stop at a well-designed modern piece of furniture to further analyze it.

The Long's Park Art & Craft Festival is a juried exhibition of the products made by talented craftspeople who work in a variety of media. I sought out the woodworkers, of course, and asked them about their pieces.

First I encountered Joe Graham (Photos 1, 2, & 3. Photo #2 is from Joe's website), Windsor chairmaker and instructor/owner of Lenox Workshops in Ohio. Joe works with handtools and at the show used a workbench made from 3 slabs of thick, single-dovetailed wood, a stretcher, and tusk tenons. The bench didn't rack at all while he used a drawknife to shape spindles, so it was an effective, knock-down workbench—perfect for travel.

Joe, who studied with Mike Dunbar and Ernie Conover, offers week-long classes, including private room, all meals and materials. By the end of the week, you will turn a log into a Windsor chair, using only handtools. The classes focus on several styles of traditional Windsors, but Joe also offers his own adaptations in his product line.

Next, I met Sam Martin (photos 4, 5, & 6), who makes intricately-detailed scale reproductions of a multitude of vehicles and who co-wrote Making Toys: Heirloom Toys to Make in Wood. As if the amount of work required to construct his pieces wasn't impressive enough, he pointed out that all his vehicles have moving parts. Doors & tool boxes open, gates fold down, fire truck ladders extend, and spreaders on road graders move sideways and foreward and backward, just like on a real one.

The logging truck was my favorite and he explained that the miniature logs were cut from saplings on his property. I asked how he made the tire treads (shown on the road grader and on the vehicle above the cattle truck). He cuts the circle first and then uses a table saw jig which is equipped with a protractor that indicates where to cut the treads. His products make great gifts for collectors as well as grandkids. But if they were my grandkids, I doubt I'd let them play with these beauties unsupervised!

Brad Smith (photos 7, 8, & 9), owner of Bradford Woodworking, studied at R.I.T. and belongs to the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen.

Brad builds unique and custom pieces, some of which incorporate his signature design element—ax handle legs—which are turned on an antique ax handle lathe. The lathe leaves a ridged pattern on the wood which ax makers would sand smooth. Brad instead allows the ridges to remain, which gives his pieces a handcarved, organic look.

His tractor seat stools, which include ax handle legs, also feature a reproduction tractor seat, produced by an Amish foundry in Lancaster County, PA, that comes complete with the Bradford Woodworking logo.

Be sure to check out Brad's website and also his blog.

The last woodworker I met was Todd Gill of TMG Designs (Photo #10). Todd is a recent graduate of East Carolina University and worked collaboratively with Brian Bortz to design the sofa tables in his booth. Brian designed the shape of the tables and Todd constructed them and designed the decorative inlay, made from metal and colored resin, for the table tops. All other pieces in Todd's collection are designed and built solely by him. He mainly works with veneer over mdf, which enables him to control wood movement and allows him to use highly figured species.

The designs have a contemporary feel, and Todd told me his products sell better in certain larger cities that appreciate modern furniture. The market, he said, changes with each year and it's difficult to predict when pieces will sell or not. Todd works part time in his business, participates in 10 shows a year across the country, and works as a sub contractor for other furniture makers.

He was also the youngest participant at the show, in his early twenties, and it was refreshing to see this kind of talent in a young woodworker.

Be sure to visit the woodworkers' websites for more information about them and their works of art.