A few finds recently on the big-box online retailers pages: fold-out table, mission barrister desk.
Personally I would much prefer one of Darrell Peart’s Aurora pedestal desks, but it’s a bit more expensive. Then again, nothing he makes is less than art.
Many communities throughout the Bay Area hold an “open studio” weekend (or week, or, in the case of this month-long 29th annual event in San Francisco, month!), where a large number of artists – sometimes hundreds – open their workspaces to visitors. This is a great way to discover new artists and designers, and to find wonderful work at low prices. This year’s event in San Francisco will take place from 11 am to 6 pm every Saturday and Sunday throughout the month of October at more than 800 studios across the city; each weekend a new neighborhood of studios will open its doors to visitors, culminating with the huge number of open studios at the now-decommissioned Hunters’ Point Naval Shipyard.
pictured: Vince Meyer‘s Japanese-influenced tables
There are a number of fantastic paper resources out there for anyone renovating their craftsman home. One of the most complete resources is the Van Dykes Restorers free catalog, which sells everything from Victorian gingerbread to oak and brass registers and every kind of stripping and finishing product known to humankind. They also carry kits for building a wide variety of furniture items.
At the top of the list as far as quality goes is Rejuvenation Hardware, which sells all sorts of fixtures and hardware (especially lighting!) out of their shop in Portland. They also do a thriving mail-order business.
The folks of the Craftsman Homes Connection, who seem to do most of their business online now, have a very attractive and jam-packed catalog, with an emphasis on decorative hardware and accessories.
Building on the Arts & Craft movement of an earlier time, Guild.com is a treasure trove of current artists working in metalwork, ceramics, printmaking, painting, fiber, glass, wood, lighting, furniture and tableware.
The Arts & Crafts masters of yesteryear would have enthusiastically approved of The Guild’s Philosophy: In a nutshell, we believe that when you live with art that you love, and it’s made by a gifted artist with skill and care, it adds something rich and sweet to your life, every day.
Auctions have come a long way in the last few years. Treadway & Toomey, one of the largest of the antiques auction houses to specialize in American Arts & Crafts, has one of their largest auctions of the year coming up on September 12 at their gallery in Oak Park. The online portion of the auction is presented using technology from icollector.com and will occur live on Ebay. Over 1000 lots of furniture, artwork and other decorative items will be sold, and you can preview the lots online. As at any Treadway & Toomey auction, there are some really gorgeous items up for sale.
Someone recently gave me a subscription to Natural Home magazine, which focuses most of its editorial attention on supposedly “green” building techniques and furniture/accessories made using various renewable resources. Eco-Furniture, a subsidiary of The Green Culture, caught my eye with an ad showing an attractive Craftsman armoire. They claim to use mostly “Certified” renewable woods, Poly-Wood (an amalgam made mostly from recycled plastics and wood byproducts) and other materials and no toxic-outgassing adhesives, and that none of their manufacturing and assembly processes produce environmentally-damaging materials.
Their craftsman collections, made of (I’m assuming farmed) mahogany and oak, look sturdy and are priced affordably. [ bed / buffet / dining table ]
Sunil from Eco-Furniture tells us that they will give a $25 discount if you mention that you saw them here on Hewn and Hammered.
Martin O’Brien and John Stevens create, together, some of the most stunning carved lettering I’ve ever seen. I don’t know how many of you go crazy over this sort of thing, but typography and lettering have always been huge interests of mine since I was quite young and their work really resonates with me. Martin O’Brien writes that John, his “partner-in-crime,” does all the design and layout work and that without him Martin wouldn’t be able to carve his way “out of a wet paper bag,” which is humble but I am sure not wholly true.
Martin is also a well-known cabinetmaker, and even in this field their collaboration has had an effect. From pieces that expertly combine the art of the letterer and the craft of the wood- and stoneworker, to Martin’s own wonderfully detailed furniture design, building, repair and conservation work (much of which expresses both classical and modern Craftsman style), their work is a real treat. I hope to see much more work from this remarkable partnership.
Folks have asked that we put some emphasis on affordable Craftsman furniture. There are a lot of budget-priced items available from the big box and web-catalog retailers, which is an easy way to add A&C touches to your home. Most of it is not handmade or even hand-finished; this is mass production, the polar opposite of the craftsman ethos. But hey, it looks pretty!
This Mission Gothic “medical chair,” on sale over on Ebay, was the “forerunner of … excercise bicycles,” and used electrical currents to somehow stimulate good health. Interesting tenon construction, but it might look more at home in a dungeon than a Mission-style home.
via boingboing.net
