Skip to content

Classic Country Life

Narrow screen resolution Wide screen resolution Increase font size Decrease font size Default font size default color orange color green color
You are here: Home arrow A R T S & C U L T U R E arrow Bridging Time arrow arrow arrow
Bridging Time PDF Print E-mail
Written by staff writer   
Friday, 10 August 2007

Furniture masters INFUSE  STYLE AND TRADITION

by Chris Vivier 

Image
David Lamb
Fine Hand craftsmanship has always played a significant role in New England tradition, as seen in the architecture, wooden boats and furniture which survive today as testaments to their makers and times.  However, in a world that is becoming more technological every day, the tools, trades and individuals that carry on this craft tradition have slowly receded into the shadows, bypassed by modern methods and ideas.  Even in New England, once a bastion of American tradition and heritage, fine craftsmanship has become increasingly difficult to find.

Image
David Lamb Detail
    Fortunately, there has been a growing number of talented artisans in New England who have rallied in the past 13 years to promote a revival of traditional ideas, standards and craftsmanship.  What began in 1993 with just a handful of New Hampshire furniture makers, and several League of NH Craftsmen leaders has evolved into the New Hampshire Furniture Masters Association (NHFMA).  These individuals came together through their mutual love and respect for the craft, its traditions, and the very material that makes it possible, wood.  The members of NHFMA represent nearly every New England state, yet their diversity is not limited to their geographic location.  In their work, these artisans utilize an enormous range of styles and approaches from traditional to contemporary, as well as a compelling range of combinations. For example, works by William Thomas and Peter Scheffer appear steeped in traditional classicism, while those by Ted Blachly, Timothy Coleman and Garrett Hack explore contemporary form and aesthetics.  Their forms range from the whimsical and playful designs of Geoffrey Ouellette and Jon Brooks to the more formal and stately pieces of David Lamb and Wayne Marcoux.  These furniture makers create masterpieces that appeal to a myriad of tastes and sensitivities.
Image
Jon Brooks
    David Lamb, one of the founding members of NHFMA, comes from a classic New England background.  He was raised in the Shaker Village of Canterbury, NH, an absolutely ideal place for him to develop and foster his love for traditional crafts and hone his skills as an artisan.  It was there, at the age of fourteen, that he was invited to apprentice with a master European cabinetmaker by the name of Alejandro de la Cruz.  Lamb acknowledges that it was this fortuitous circumstance that brought him to furniture making.  De la Cruz, whose workshop abutted the Shaker Village, wanted to pass his skills on to a young apprentice.  It was in this studio that Lamb’s journey toward becoming a master furniture maker began.  Following his graduation from Boston University design school, Lamb returned to Canterbury to continue his long and fulfilling career as a furniture maker.
Image
Jon Brooks Chair
    David Lamb’s work is a personal reinterpretation of traditional style and design, combining established structures and motifs with a modern approach to form and proportion.  In a recent piece, entitled the Southpoint Collections Chest, featured at the 10th Anniversary Furniture Masters Auction, Lamb’s genius is clearly illustrated by the classic styling of long, elegant and gently tapered legs as well as ornate, hand-carved floral details that adorn the forty-five degree corners of the chest.  These carvings are set against the clean, contemporary, almost minimalist lines of the body and long, narrow, subtly bowed drawers that come flush to one another forming the chest’s face.  The surface is broken only by the sinuous diamond-shaped inlays surrounding the single keyhole in each drawer.  It is the fine details in the chest and the execution of form that Lamb identifies as one of the unifying trends of his work.
Image
Jon Brooks Chair Detail
    In another piece, Chest of Drawers, created for the 2001 Furniture Masters Auction, Lamb demonstrates a similar melding of styles.  While the chest itself exhibits a traditional shape and design, sitting atop tapered legs, the drawers are fronted with a blazing golden veneer of plume birch whose vibrant color and grain create a bold pattern that enervates this otherwise quietly elegant chest.  It is this original and distinctive combination of styles, appealing to a range of aesthetic tastes, which results in these widely admired and desirable pieces of furniture.
    Bringing a very different style to the group is Jon Brooks, who joined the Furniture Masters in 1996.  Brooks is a furniture maker and sculptor, whose work is not only an obvious departure from David Lamb’s, but also an excellent example of the wide range of inspirations, approaches and styles incorporated in the various masters’ works.  Brooks finds his inspiration in the organic forms he encounters every day.  As a New Hampshire native, his work recalls the trees and natural growth of the area, often appearing to spring forth from the ground itself.  “A lot of what I do is to cooperate with chaos,” he says.  “It usually happens during the first hour of my working day when I am in the forest foraging or trail making, wandering and meditating that I come upon bent or wiggly tree forms which are loaded with suggestion.  It’s my conception of each new piece.”  His work utilizes flowing organic forms to create sculptural furniture that promotes a whimsical and lively interaction with the people that come in contact with each piece.  “I enjoy making furniture and sculpture that you can dance with, that is participatory, playful, and suggestive. Function is often a chosen limitation,” the artist also notes.
Image
David Lamb's Studio
    A frequent subject of Brooks’ work is the ladderback chair.  Loosely based on the classic Shaker design, this model is executed in pure Jon Brooks style.  Using wood found in its natural environment, Brooks creates frames that bend and turn like saplings in the breeze, finding their way naturally if not magically to their next mortise and tenon joint.  The irregularly shaped seat, armrests and back-slats provide the chair with its functional components.  Brooks’ Dancing with Yellow Chair is a characteristic example of his work, where the chair’s black frame and ladder back rails stretch upward as if ever gently drifting and reaching for the sky above. The golden maple seat, armrests and back-slats are set against the black frame and project a warm and inviting yellow glow. Unifying the chair and adding to its playful appeal are matching yellow glyphs that dance around the entire surface of the frame with spirited strokes and turns.  This piece, like many others, is a work of art that effectively conveys Brooks’ passion and admiration for nature in its limitless and ever-changing forms, along with his own playful and free spirit.    
Image
Band Saws
    Abstract or traditional, whimsical or reserved, the members of the NHFMA are disparate in style.  Yet, they share a commonality: a commitment to craftsmanship.  It is through that commitment that even the most progressive members of the association are honoring the New England tradition of fine furniture making.
www.furnituremasters.org


Last Updated ( Friday, 10 August 2007 )
 
< Prev   Next >
[ Back ]
Advertisement
No Issues Available

Featured Listing

JC Stone Inc.

JC Stone Inc.
Category: Home

Newsflash

Summer 2008


Lakes Region, NH Focus Issue

Classic Country Life, the New England magazine that everyone raves about, takes you through the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. 


Read more...
 

Login Form
Lost Password?
No account yet? Register