Bench

Okay, so this isn't technically a "chair", but it is furniture made to be sat on, so it's close enough. I finished this commissioned piece quite a while back, but just recently got back some pictures of it from a shoot earlier this year. This my second bench; oddly, both were designed to go in very specific spaces, and were made for two sets of people who are very close friends with one another. The first, which I unfortunately don't have any pictures of, resides in California with the Sass family.

This one, made for my very good friends Kevin (he took these fancy photos) and LaReesa, features a sort of organic design in bloodwood, holly and maple inlaid into walnut Turned legs, lots of mortises and tongue-and-groove construction make this one of the more complex pieces I've done. Those elements are augmented with egg-shaped bronze feet that were poured using an ingenious technique developed by my mentor and former boss Littleton Alston (Click here or here to see some of his amazing sculptures). Partly to protect the floor from denting, and partly to play on the idea of the egg shapes, there are small turned cups in bloodwood and holly that sit underneath each egg foot. Sometimes I refer to this as a fertility seat because of the eggs and organic design on top, but that probably grosses out Kevin and LaReesa. So sorry about that.

Btw... Every time I think about benches, I can't help to remember the son of some family friends. As a toddler one Christmas or holiday he received one of those plastic fisher price work benches and tool sets as a gift. He was so excited about his new toy he proceeded to run around the house (innocently) screaming about his "work bitch!" Hopefully that didn't stick.