a few shots from the wonderful Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum in Japan's Kochi prefecture, by Kengo Kuma & Associates; more shots at Designboom.
woodworking
Tom McFadden Furniture
Nestled along the northern California coast, not far from Point Arena and Mendocino, sits the small town of Boonville. It’s here that Tom McFadden, a furniture designer and builder, has lived and crafted stunning Arts and Crafts-inspired furniture since the early 1960s. McFadden, who also serves as a woodworking instructor at Mendocino Community College and creates custom cabinetry for Navarro Vineyards, draws influence from the elegant lines and graceful curves of Greene & Greene as well as elements of the Art Nouveau movement, all while maintaining a certain minimalistic approach. McFadden describes his work as currently revolving around two main styles: one that features the clean lines and square corners typical of formal Shaker furniture, and another that incorporates rounded “steps” – a design element he has developed that echoes the cloud lifts of Asian-inspired designs seen in the Greenes’ work. What sets McFadden’s creations apart, however, is his distinctive use of contrasting woods in varying shades and colors, which provides a striking visual contrast, particularly in some of his most intricate pieces. This unique aesthetic is even evident in his more traditional office furniture.
ofuro: Japanese soaking tubs
pictured above: a beautiful custom wooden ofuro designed & built by Bartok Design
A few years ago, I remodeled my bathroom, and removed a traditional shower/tub combo. In replacing it with a tiled shower stall and a tub, I faced a dilemma: how to fit these two new items in the same space? Luckily, my solution was Kohler's Greek Soaking Tub, substantially deeper, wider and shorter than their traditional tubs. However, I originally investigated building a custom Japanese soaking tub – or ofuro – before discarding that idea in favor of my lower-cost Kohler alternative.
My father is facing a similar project: he wants to turn the upstairs in his 1917 Craftsman home into a small apartment, with the 1/2 bath currently there becoming a full, albeit tiny, bathroom. Being that the entire upstairs of his house is finished in rich rough wood – mostly raw redwood planks and other woods – he wants the bath to be similarly subtle and consistent, so I recommended an ofuro.
One of the best resources on the subject is Bruce Smith & Yoshiko Yamamoto's Japanese Baths book – lots of eyecandy and ideas in it. But here are some other resources that may be useful.
- Hydro Systems' 4040 round/square soaking tub
- Neo-Metro's luxury baths
- THG's Yoko
- Neptune makes some larger whirlpools in a vaguely Japanese style
- MTI has a huge line of luxury baths, including several space-saving corner models and a few deep soakers
- online retailer Signature Hardware has a nice consolidated listing for several different makers of unorthodox bath & soaking tubs
- I saw a Cabuchon tub recently installed in Portland, Oregon; it looked great but I couldn't exactly strip down and take a bath at the cocktail party where I saw it
- Bathpro's Yubune are short and deep
- TeakTubs look gorgeous but I'm not sure how safe they'd be on a second story, but as long as they're sealed well, I know teak shouldn't split or swell, so maybe they're fine
- Robert's Hot Tubs makes some really nice tubs, several of which are bathroom-sized
- Bartok Design's custom Japanese tubs are beautiful and minimalist
- Driftwood Design also makes custom wooden baths
- master carpenter Hiroshi Sakaguchi also makes custom tubs, all of which are absolutely gorgeous
- of course, if the floor is strong enough, you can always frame & pour your own concrete tub to fit any possible shape or space
- for less than $900, you can have a portable ofuro that will fit in a large shower stall or which can be placed above a drain on a tiled floor – something you can take with you, and one of the simplest solutions to this sort of problem. No reason you can't use a flexible filler, with a hook on the wall above it to turn it into a shower!
ed & alice syszynski: ready to build
We've been big fans of Alice Suszynski's cabinetry ever since we first saw a small cabinet of hers at a bungalow show in San Francisco. Now, Alice has teamed up with her engineer husband Ed to produce a line of ready-to-build kits – small chests, cabinets and boxes intended for jewelry and other precious small items – showing off some of her signature styles. Dream Mountain Studios' ready-to-build line currently includes almost a dozen different designs, all firmly part of the Arts & Crafts tradition – Alice's prairie, bird and floral motifs are my personal favorite.
While you're at it, take a look at Alice's larger (and often custom) case goods.
Gloucestershire cottage woodwork
I love the wooden enclosure on the exhaust fan over the stove – and the butcher block countertops and exposed beams are lovely, too.
reclaimed wood tables
From time to time, we allow a company or craftsperson we know and trust to place a sponsored post here at Hewn and Hammered. This particular piece is from Arcadian Lighting, who have been selling home lighting fixtures and lamps online at a deep discount for over 15 years.
Today’s guest post is from Susi, a writer for Arcadian Lighting. Visit their website and cool blog for more information about interior design, lighting design, and beautiful light fixtures. A green trend in design is using reclaimed wood for furniture and floors. Reclaimed wood tables are probably the most common type of furniture where you can find reclaimed wood being used. Here are 8 examples of reclaimed wood tables, from contemporary to traditional, that demonstrate green design can be gorgeous design.
Pinterest (via)
Reclaimed wood can be used for console tables, side tables and bedside tables as well as dining tables and coffee tables. Reclaimed wood is a great, green option for any type of table.
Pottery Barn (via)
Reclaimed wood is such a hot trend right now that major retailers are getting behind it with their products. Look for dining tables, coffee tables, and console tables all made of reclaimed wood.
Cote de Texas (via)
A reclaimed wood and steel coffee table looks right at home in a traditional/farmhouse living room. Reclaimed wood tables work well with a number of styles and decors.
Southern Hospitality (via)
Dining tables made of reclaimed wood mean you don’t have to worry about every little stain or scratch. This reclaimed wood trestle table has an antique feel to it. Always aware of a room’s light fixtures, we love the lamps and drum pendant light in this room.
LA Times Blogs (via)
Reclaimed wood paired with metal bases has contemporary clean lines that almost feel industrial. These clean lines mean the reclaimed wood table can work in a variety of dining rooms or kitchens.
Apartment Therapy (via)
Slabs of reclaimed wood have a more contemporary feel to them when used as tables. Paired with sleek modern or contemporary chairs, this slab table recalls the designs of mid-century design master, George Nakashima.
LA Times Blogs (via)
A sleek coffee table lets the character and charm of the reclaimed wood be the star. Looks great with the modern style sofa, but could also work in a more traditional room.
FFFFound (via)
Reclaimed wood has built in charm and age. Knicks, gouges, patina, color variation and rustic finishes are all part of the charm of reclaimed wood tables. Vintage pendant lights are perfect above reclaimed wood tables. Content provided by Arcadian Lighting, a site that specializes in top quality lighting fixtures at extremely affordable prices. If you like this post, be sure to stop by the Arcadian Lighting blog and say hello!
A New Age for Wooden Toys, pt 1
I grew up in Berkeley, California in the 1970s. You know what that means: whole wheat birthday cakes made with organic flour, unfiltered fruit juice, brown rice, hand-knit sweaters … and wooden toys.
While definitely not a hippie myself, I do have a soft spot for pretty wooden toys, and try to buy my child things that are made by actual human hands with natural materials. Here are a few especially nice items I've seen, all of which are ostensibly made for kids, but which would be appreciated by any adult with taste and an interest in the hand-made.
I loved these as a kid. They're incredibly cheap – $6 for a pack of 50 – but you can build the most incredible, intricate sculptures out of them, from model skyscrapers to full-on Buckyballs:
This pretty mushroom puzzle would be best accompanied by a lesson to teach kids how to spore-print, so that they'll never accidentally eat anything that might hurt them:
These "pet monster" blocks are unfortunately sold out (on Etsy, a treasure-trove of handmade toys):Etsy seller Deepoca has these four vintage pieces of wooden fruit – a banana, pear, apple and starfruit – for only $12 for the set:
Ulf Hanses designed this 5.25-inch-long Playsam Streamliner wooden car; FitzSu Los Angeles carries them for $46.
Simus the wooden rhinocerous, designed by David Weeks in the style of the great Danish designer Kay Bojesen, is just one of several articulated wooden animals carried by the same company:
Fine Wooden Toys carries this very cool stacking/nesting "furniture house," which can also be a balancing toy, a tunnel-builder, or any one of a dozen other open-ended play items:
The same company sells this cool and colorful German-made magnetic wooden Indian Square puzzle:
They also have this wonderful fully-furnished ready-to-paint (or wallpaper) dollhouse for $90. I bought one for my daughter before she was born and she gets an enormous amount of use out of it:
Eric Carle was one of my favorite authors as a child and should be well-known to your kids, too; I was happy to discover that the Eric Carle Museum has a number of well-made toys based on his stories, including this very pretty (and very hungry) 12" long caterpillar pull-toy:
Etsy maker/seller Imaginationkids has a number of pretty, sturdy, and brightly-colored stacking, rolling and other sorts of toys (all of which function just as well as desk sculpture for grownups) at extremely fair prices:Ikea's very cool Lillabo vehicles are $10 for a pack of three, and are only available in some of their stores. And while I always prefer to buy from makers themselves, Ikea does carry a number of really sturdy wooden toys.
Chicago's Agent Gallery has the 28" tall Mr. Wood, below, currently on sale for an undisclosed sum (if you have to ask, etc.):
Blackwagon is a "modern boutique for babies and kids," and carries lots of neat wooden toys, like this cool spinning top:
These pretty Scots-made wooden rattles are £30 from Papa Stour:
Wolfgang Sirch's Max Pushcar is one of several designs made by the Sirch family, who have been designing and making wooden objects for more than 300 years in their native Germany:
You may think the timing of this piece is a bit off – after all, the traditional holiday gift-giving season just ended with 2010. However, kids appreciate beautiful, educational, well-made gifts any time of year, and maybe you'll get some good ideas from the items I've shown above.
Peepshow Bookcase
The beautiful Peepshow bookcase is $2800 (!) from Lekker Home. Lekker claims this is made from "Dimn wood" which I assume is a misspelling of "dimb," a protected type of tree found only in Senegal which is illegal to harvest without a special permit. Permits are issued only to salvage wood from a single naturally-felled tree at a time, which makes me wonder about the provenance of the wood – but which also explains the high pricetag.
Prefab + Wood in Texas
This is the living room of a "prefabricated, sustainable design-build project by the College of Architecture, the College of Visual and Performing Arts, and the College of Engineering at Texas Tech University."
Freestanding Shelving from Ragna Gutschow
"Schrankbox," a freestanding shelf and drawer unit, was built by Ragna Gutschow in Hamburg.
