This interesting and unique – but not especially attractive – staircase and slide combination comes to us via an anonymous email. Anyone know who built it or where it is?
woodworking
Alice Roth Suszynski’s boxes & chests
We last ran a piece on Alice Suszynski's work a few years ago – at the time, she had recently produced an absolutely stunning wooden Arts & Crafts chandelier. Her newest venture is on a slightly smaller scale, although the work is no less intricate and attractive. Recently Alice has been busy making jewelry boxes that are quite a bit different from any you've seen before; some are inlaid, others etched or decorated with interesting dark wood accents; all are hand-made from top-quality woods with beautiful grain, and many include nods to Asian, Prairie and Arts & Crafts forms, although several are firmly modern and would be an excellent gift for an aficionado of almost any style.
Her Rye Grass flatware storage box is also particularly attractive. Alice is open to commissions for a wide range of woodwork projects.
Tim Uli’s gate-leg tables
Our friend Tim Uli at T. M. Uli & Son sends this update regarding their sturdy, beautiful gate-leg tables:
… since we first listed on Hewn and Hammered over 4 years ago, our collection of gate leg tables has grown, from the one shown at the time. This type of table is one the most useful pieces of furniture that you can own. It has also been our most popular piece requested by our clients. And as our "Gate leg Gallery"
shows, it can be made to meet your particular needs. This table has been modified from it's original size and style, from contemporary to Arts and Crafts and has been made with one leaf, that is only 29" long when opened, to a multi-leaf version that is 110" when opened completely. If you occasionally need a large table, but don't want one taking up your living space everyday, this is the table for you. See how much space you have for your entertaining and check with us to build you a table. There is a waiting list; so get your name on it so you can have your table before those summer and holiday get togethers roll around. Most of these tables can be sent via UPS for about $150 throughout the US. Truck shipping is also available for the larger tables.sinusoidal teak door in Surat, India
I'm not usually a huge fan of modern architecture – obviously, given the theme of this site – but the material and the flowing organic quality of this door really struck me. Designed by Matharoo Associates in Surat, India, it is installed in a private residence.
At 5.2m high and 1.7m wide, the door is comprised of 40 sections of 254mm-thick Burma teak. Each section is carved so that the door integrates 160 pulleys, 80 ball bearings, a wire-rope and a counter weight hidden within the single pivot.
Stacked one above the other in the closed position, each plank can then rotate by a simple push causing the door to reconfigure into a sinusoidal curve.
Despite only submitting the door for the competition, the accompanying 1700m² showpiece house features a number of similarly inventive components, including a light-emitting onyx wall, which also caught the judges attention.
quarter-sawn white oak & tile fireplace surround
The surround above was built by a reader who designed it entirely in Google's free Sketchup application and then built the piece from quarter-sawn white oak (finished with a Minwax "English Chestnut" stain and wipe-on polyeurethane), using only hand tools. The tile is from Minneapolis' Claysquared. Take a look at his other Craftsman designs here; they include light fixtures, furniture and more.
Mission corner cabinet by Joel Liebman
Back in 2005, we published a short article on the very gifted New England woodworker Joel Liebman. While many of his colleagues in the region stay strictly focused on the area's Shaker tradition, Joel has melded Shaker lines with Craftsman detailing, producing pieces that are both new and classic at the same time.
He wrote recently to share a piece he finished not too long ago. This corner cabinet, which maximizes space that otherwise might go unused, is made of some very interesting woods – Sapele, Bubinga and Wenge – and includes a nice bit of art glass on the upper doors. The handles are reproduction Stickley designs. It is, of course, a one-of-a-kind piece; contact Joel if you'd like to commission something, and if you do, please send us pictures of the finished product.
a Greentea Design remodeled kitchen in Ottawa
[the finished kitchen; photo by Kim]Last week, in our post on Greentea Design, I made a quick mention of
one specific old-house kitchen remodel using their cabinets. Since
then, Mike Ramsey at Greentea was kind enough to supply me with
comprehensive background information on this particular project, and I
thought it would be of interest to all of you – not just those
considering a kitchen remodel, but anyone interested in how this
Asian-influenced cabinetry can work in a Craftsman home.The
kitchen in Kim's turn-of-the-century Ottawa bungalow was originally
attractive, I'm sure, but long before she moved in there, someone with
a surfeit of love for Formica ripped out the original cabinetry and,
unfortunately, expressed themselves all over the room. Fast forward to the both modern and at the same time classic finished product – but don't worry, we'll spell out the whole process for you below; you can read even more about it on Kim's own blog.Kim
had already decided to remove the non-bearing wall that separated the
kitchen from the living room, which made the previous owner's kitchen
cramped and difficult to use. In doing the demolition, she found all sorts of interesting things – layers upon layers of wallpaper and newsprint dating back to 1903. Other demo-related discoveries included what appeared to be horse hair – possibly used for insulation in the ceiling – found when removing wood paneling to allow for can lights,Next, Greentea interviewed Kim regarding what she wanted and what she needed from the new kitchen, and produced a rough sketch of what would be possible in the new room. Kim picked out which pieces she wanted, and Greentea rendered them in Google Sketchup for confirmation of sizing before they submitted the order to their factory. Pieces included 2 single and one double Mizuya
upper cabinets, three Mizuya
base cabinets – two 3 drawer versions and a smaller one
with chopstick drawers in place of the third drawer – and finally a standard 4
foot Mizuya Pantry. Google Sketchup,
the (free) savior to the design/build industries and with a learning
curve that allows anyone to pick it up, is again called into use, this
time to generate a full render of the finished kitchen.Soon after the demolition and basic structural changes were completed, Kim received the (very well-packed) cabinetry
from Greentea and began to put things into place. Appliances were
brought in, base cabinets were installed, and whatever minimal
modifications that were needed for plumbing were made, then sink, lighting,
and countertops came next; at this point, it was really starting to
look like the kitchen she'd been waiting for – certainly a feeling
we've all been very happy to have as a remodel starts to actually
resemble the picture we have in our heads. One neat addition at this
point: Kim had a cat hole made in the hatch to her basement, which was mounted on shock absorbers to let it move up and down smoothly – a really nice feature worth emulating.And voila: it is done! Finally, you can see how well everything fits into the new cabinetry; her four-foot Mizuya pantry is especially spacious. Kim even made a short video tour
of the finished product, which really shows how well these cabinets
define the tone of the room, but don't overpower the rest of the house
at all.Again, if you're at all interested in a really good deal on step tansu – my single favorite piece of cabinetry – note that Greentea is running their Step Into Summer promotion, with large discounts on all step tansu, for another two weeks (it ends on June 15!).
Greentea Design: spectacular custom kitchens
Toronto-based Greentea Design has a special place in my heart: not only do they design, build and sell some of the most beautiful kitchen cabinetry available anywhere – in beautiful Japanese-influenced styles that are a perfect match for any Mission or Craftsman home – but they also carry a range of both antique and contemporary reclaimed-wood furniture, some in historic Craftsman and Japanese designs and others in more contemporary shapes. And the prices, even including the (very professional and speedy) shipping from Canada are surprisingly low, making them competitive with any of the larger semi-custom cabinet makers out there, even while using better materials like a clear coat for kitchen cabinets and sturdier building techniques..
While many of their signature pieces – step tansu and other room-defining wood furniture items – are gorgeous, it's that line of kitchen cabinets that I keep coming back to. Sold as custom kitchen sets or as individual stock pieces, the grain of the wood, beautiful (and exclusive to Greentea) hand-forged hardware and trim detail is both Asian and Craftsman at the same time, with enough character to be beautiful and enough attention to design to be eminently useful. Their Loft Kitchen custom design, above, is a combination of the various Mizuya cabinets, including an island and a full range of wall cabinets and accessories; other past custom kitchens have included the simplified Asian Bistro, minimalist Zen Modern, and Chalet Chic, which was tailored for a more open, airy space. Of course, each piece is available by itself as well – all the islands, hutches, wall and base cabinets and pantries you could possibly need are available piecemeal should you wish to design your own kitchen, amd all can be installed in a fixed position or left free-standing (for a movable island, for example). The custom design services offered are impressive – Greentea's staff of furniture and room designers are more than happy to assist with your own custom project or do the work for you; their staff worked extensively with Kim Johnson, owner of a 100-year-old home in Ottawa, on her recent remodel, and the results were very impressive; Kim blogged the entire process on her website, Design to Inspire.
I'm very happy to have a piece of theirs up in my own modern Craftsman kitchen, and I hope to have a few photographs of it soon; a smaller version of the Dana cabinet (pictured above; mine is a similar to what sits above the glass cabinets on the right and left of this unit) completes the rear wall of that recently-remodeled room in my 1925 Mission Revival bungalow in Sacramento, California, and it's a perfect complement for the bamboo floors, stone countertops and glass tile backsplash that round out the project. Some day, I'd like to own one of their step tansus, which I have always maintained are the perfect bridge between an austere Asian design style and the earthy workmanship of the Craftsman aesthetic. And they're running a special "Stepping Into Summer" promotion right now, with 20% discounts on these unique pieces, including the Elm Burl step tansu, shown below.
Owner Dale Storer has worked hard to make sure that Greentea's products complement a wide range of architectural styles, though, and much of their more contemporary designs would look at home whether in a traditional Japanese home, a Craftsman bungalow, or a modern high-tech apartment. The Lattice TV Stand, pictured below, hides components behind a latticed sliding door that still allows remote controls to function, and is just as good a match for an urban loft as it is for a 90-year-old brown-shingle Craftsman bungalow. Every one of these pieces is made from reclaimed wood, and all come in a variety of finishes with different types of hardware available as well. Mike Ramsey writes that the reclaimed wood usually comes from "aging rural structures that are being taken down to make way for Asia's rapidly expanding urban centers. The Maru tables are the best example since they're turned into tables directly from being reclaimed. The original supports are cut into legs who have correspondingly sized holes cut in the base of the slabs of floor."
Their antiques stock, some of which is on hand at their Toronto showroom, is also worth checking out; I'm partial to the large selection of all sorts of Japanese tansu, but they also carry plenty of Chinese and Korean pieces as well.
I'm not so used to giving such praise to a business – as regular readers know, I'm pretty stingy with compliments and generous with criticism, which is certainly a fault. However, after dealing with this company myself and going gaga over their website, I just wanted to make sure you were all as familiar with them as I've become. After seeing so many (primarily) Japanese antiques blend so well with the large shingled Craftsman homes of California, but noticing the absence of same elsewhere in the country, I thought perhaps most people didn't realize that the two styles matched so well.
If you're in or near Toronto, definitely check out the Greentea showroom; otherwise, spend a few minutes browsing their website, or call them at 1.866.426.7286 to talk with someone about your kitchen design or furniture needs.
I've made a small Flickr album for photos of their work; I'll soon add a good shot of the Dana cabinet in my own kitchen; those of you who already have Greentea cabinets, please do send me your photos, and I'll add them as well!
the prettiest saw in the world
Veritas makes the prettiest dovetail (or "variable gang") saw in the world. And for $220, we can only hope it works as well as it looks.
Jerry Middleton: building medicine cabinets.
Reader Karen Klingon, wife of woodworker Jerry Middleton, sends us this great photomontage of Jerry in his Williamsburg, Brooklyn workshop. The photograph is by NYC photographer Ron Nicolaysen. In the photo, Jerry is working on his beautiful, handcrafted medicine cabinets.Click on the image for a higher-resolution version