How do you define "studio furniture"

Re: How do you define "studio furniture"

Norman (Ottawa, Ont.)


>Kerry,

I wouldn't consider it a style of furniture.

It is, from my understanding ... one-off,unique

pieces of furniture built in a small shop, typically a

one-person shop.

The pieces could be any style but typically are hand-crafted,

and of very high-quality with much attention to detail.

The studio furniture can be built on spec, or

as a custom commission.

The studio funiture piece can range from pure form, as in art furniture, or predominately functional, but unique..

or a combination of form and function.

So, my understanding is studio furniture is hand-crafted in a small studio environment, as opposed to mass- produced furniture.

Norman

Re: How do you define "studio furniture" *LINK*

Ed Mulligan, Cape Cod


>Kerry -

The linked article attempts to answer your question. The Furniture Society has published several books I think you will find interesting.

Ed


Studio Furniture article

That's a good article

Adam Cherubini, NJ

def. "studio furniture"

David Barnett - SW Florida


>Bespoke or gallery furniture designed and built by an "artisan" in a "studio" or "atelier", often described in terms such as "organic", "transitional", "whimsical", "transcendental", and so on, in an "artist's statement", "commissioned" by a patron or client who will engage in ritual "artspeak" conversations at different stages of conception and completion (although a gallery owner may act as surrogate in abbreviated presale rites), typically costing far more than "derivative" or "period" work undertaken by mere woodworkers in workshops for customers.

Do I detect a bit of sarcasm here?

Denis Ch�nard, Orl�ans, Ont.


>I understand what you're saying... Yet it seems that if you want to make a decent living at woodworking that's the way one has to go, the customers with deep pockets like to listen to that kind of language (makes them comfortable to part with a good chunk of money, so that they can repeat the same message to their friends and acquaitances), if as a woodworker you don't do it someone else will, then what pays the bills?

Seems like there are only two options: either you make a solid product extremely efficiently to be sold "anonymously" in quantity through retail outlets, for a small profit, or you spend a lot of time "educating" and cajoling individual wealthy customers, and produce exclusive, labour intensive one of a kind pieces. Doesn't make one better than the other...

Look at automobiles... A Dodge SRT-4 is faster, much cheaper, more fuel efficient and more spacious than a BMW 3-series. Yet the Bimmer sells for about double the price. How is that? Part of it is refinement, part is prestige (nutured successfully through the years by BMW), and the most important part is that there are people willing to pay a dear price for "exclusivity" or "image"...

Hope I didn't offend anyone by my statements, that was not the intent...

DC

Re: Do I detect a bit of sarcasm here?

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX


>I suspect there's some truth in what you say; but the attraction of the BMW for me is that they are still viable, superbly competent cars at an advanced age, say 22 years old. So only having to buy a new car every 20 or 25 years is of great value, speaking as one who prefers to pay cash. Also, they're drivers' cars. However, that Dodge is now owned by Mercedes, so there's hope. :)

Pam

Forgot to finish my point

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX


>I'd expect a good, custom piece of furniture to have superior joinery and finish, to not only look very, very good, but to last at least my life time. Why? Because I get no pleasure from choosing from an infinite number of inferior pieces one finds in stores. I just don't like shopping for most things that much. So I want to minimize the number of times I have to make these decisions.

Pam

The target of my irony...

David Barnett - SW Florida


>...first and foremost is me! Of course, you had no way of knowing this. I learned long ago that decorative arts demand informed promotion and justification, and I'm pretty good at that aspect of craft. I actually enjoy the process and am genuinely enthusiastic about discussing the arts, influences upon my work, and so on, and am grateful for the attention of patrons. A craftsperson who is not confident in their creations and less than comfortable in showing them had better find someone else to promote their work. This is such a daunting hurdle that I suspect as many are held back in their aspirations by it as by undercapitalization.

Really, I was being tongue-in-cheek, Denis, but the process can become ugly when excessive and insincere, and I've attended enough gallery openings to have seen it at its best and worst.

David (who works glass in his atelier, gold in his studio, and wood in his garage)

Re: average people

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI


>Pam, I believe you are very different from the average wealthy person. To me it sounds like you are practical and smart, which fact in itself would set you into a 2% category. 98% of wealthy people are neither.

As one who does that sort of thing , sort of . . .

Ed Snow


>I think the term studio furntiture is becoming a bit antiquated. There are so many trying to fit inside the niche that term describes it is no longer adequate. As well there are so many furniture makers trying to fit up into the niche to better market themselves it has dumbed down the term and its significance to those who do make studio art furniture forms.

The term used to mean furniture forms that were made by an artist with specific ideology reflective of the maker and the specific audience which it is was being made for. Now not so much, to the general audience it just means furniture that is really expensive. Any more that is an incorrect assumption and not reflective of the movement that has evolved out of the beginnings of "studio furniture". And to be honest, much to the chagrin of my colleagues and peers I think that it most likely all right. I think that it is time for those of us not really making furniture so much for its function or even its forms, that have been dictated by history, move forward and create a new term for ourselves. One that is reflective of our ideology, the ideology of artists and not furniture makers.

I am not the first to say it but like any movment in the arts it too can and perhaps has died.

Re: average people

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX


>I'm not wealthy at all, yet. :) I do like to think of myself as practical and smart, but so does everyone else. Thanks for the compliment.

Pam

Thanks

Kerry in FortSask, Alberta


>Thanks for the responses and especially the link to the article Ed, it was quite good. I just knew I was asking the right people.

Cheers,

Kerry

I recognized...

woodburnbob


>the melodious tones of Bierce and Mencken immediately. When I finish at the computer I plan to rush up to my bedside table and see if I can find a version of this in the "Devil's Dictionary".

Re: I recognized...

David Barnett - SW Florida


>"A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin." - H.L. Mencken

Re: I recognized...

woodburnbob


>Hand, n. A singular instrument worn at the end of a human arm and commonly thrust into somebody's pocket. -- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

For anyone not following this, Bierce is an heroic figure among those who revere cynics. His cynicism was largely born during the carnage of the Civil War, and later honed as he practiced journalism, among other things.

The entertaining movie, The Old Gringo, is a fictional account of his ultimate statement on war and humanity.

Tool content: hand, thrust, pocket, honed.

Re: Do I detect a bit of sarcasm here?

HC Sakman @ Victoria, BC


>Hi Denis,

As SRT4 vs. M3 or even 330I issue... I think Dodge is overcharging! Power and speed is NOTHING without control and that's what BMW provides and Dodge lacks. Safety features and other refinements that took 30 years to accomplish are not available in Dodge. Not to mention that BMW will outlast Dodge mechanically as well as in fit and finish in any given model. (Perhaps Viper is an exception. It's simple and well-built, .....with price tag to match that.)

Hence the price difference. There's no free lunch mon cher! ;-)

Chico...

Id�es pr�con�ues, mon cher ami!

Denis Ch�nard, Orl�ans, Ont.


>Leafing through my old issues of Motor Trend, the SRT-4 accelerates faster, brakes shorter, and has basically the same handling as a BMW 330i sedan (one wins in one measure, loses in the other one, but they're basically tied overall). For half the price. Not only is the performance there, so is the control (fuel economy is a bit better too). And it is more spacious to boot...

There's no arguing that the BMW will probably last longer, although two of my sisters own one, and maintenance costs a fortune according to them. The Bimmer is more prestigious and refined, no one will argue on that, it has to be, as you can buy two SRT-4s for the price of one 330i...

It's a case of money not being an object vs. being an object. But performance-wise, the 330i loses.

The M3's edge over the SRT-4 is about the same as the latter's over the 330, but by then you're getting close to 3 times the price. And with cheap Mopar parts you can eliminate that edge.

Mind you, I'd pick the BMW if both cars were offered to me, but it wouldn't be because of the performance...

DC

Re: Id�es pr�con�ues, mon cher ami!

Thom D


>Right, but what were they up to 20 years ago when Pam needed them!

Re: Id�es pr�con�ues, mon cher ami!

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX


>Precisely, Thom. And even now, when the '84 BMW is very long in the tooth, people are willing to pay $1000 or $1500 for it. I don't know of an American car that would still be viable at this age, much less marketable (aside from the muscle cars that people want to renovate because they can't afford cool, sexy new cars, granted that's a bit unfair). My last American car was a '66 Comet Cyclone that my parents (father a Lincoln Mercury dealer) bought me for college (I had to pay all operational expenses), and it had to have most of its hoses replaced at age 3. Great car, but... And the American cars of the '80's were even worse. Or my '78 Harley cafe Sportster that shook itself to death as I rode down the street vs my '76 BMW that's still good if I put it on the road and handles like a dream?

GM diddled away the '50's and '60's selling fins and trying to convince the unions that they shouldn't pay fair wages by promising benefits for retirement. I promise you $1 tomorrow for a hamburger today. To their credit, they're behaving better than the airlines (I no longer fly). These guys want me to take them seriously?

Maybe the NA vendors are changing, but I'm afraid my attitudes are pretty much set. Sometime in the next 5 years or so I expect to have to shop for my last new car, assuming we still have gas and any car is viable. I have great hopes for the Chinese MG's. :) I rented a Hyundai a couple of years ago that handled as good as the BMW in the mountains, a real pleasure to drive. Todd highly recommends Toyota motors. I like the looks of some of the Chrysler retro cars, but I don't trust their performance yet. And so it goes.

Pam

Pam Wealthy?

Ernie Miller


>I didn't know that. She used to have a good job in computers I think and was unimployed for awile and I think she teaches now. I just thought she had good tasts and a sugar daddy. Seriously I think she likes nice things buys them once and takes care of them. Studio furnature? I know nothing about that. I like practical stuff. I think you and Pam are both practical just differant.

20 years ago...

Denis Ch�nard, Orl�ans, Ont.


>Things were a bit ugly... My second car, purchased in '89 (as I was starting my first job), was an '83 Dodge Aries. Yup, the famed K-car! Wasn't my choice, my father found one for cheap, rebuilt the engine, all for $750, before I could say a "but, but"...

After a year of flooring the gas and waiting for the thing to start moving, the car did me a favor by blowing its radiator. Perfect excuse to buy something with a bit more celerity (Colt Turbo in that case)...

DC

Still missing his Taurus SHO

Re: Pam Wealthy?

Thom D


>Smart anyway.

To Funny

Todd Hughes


>Moses said..."To me it sounds like you are practical and smart, which fact in itself would set you into a 2% category. 98% of wealthy people are neither..."

This sort of made me think about when people say "Well Rich People aren't any happier then poor people"....Of course I have only ever heard this coming from people in a row boat looking at a yacht and never from the yacht looking down at a row boat !

Well If only 2% of wealthy people are "Practical and Smart" that is probably a couple more then the percentage of "Poor" People that are, eh? .......Todd

Re: don't forget good looking.

Thom D


>If you have ever owned a yacht you would know the people in the rowboat were right.

Since we are all in the top 2% of the wealthy of the world, I tend to agree with you that we are all smart, practical, good looking and humble.