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How did you
get into furniture design, and why custom pieces
in particular?
I started building furniture a couple of years after
finishing my MFA, after a trip to Paris. At the
time, I was doing highly conceptual art works that
had almost no physical form or presence. When I
was in Paris, I was struck by the way art and design
were integrated into everyday life in a way that
I had never seen before, and this made a big impression
on me. It left me feeling that there was a pragmatic
element missing in my work, and so I began thinking
about incorporating ideas into things I could use
on a daily basis, such as furniture.
I bought a table saw and began making book storage
furniture, as I had a large library of books on
art, philosophy and literary criticism. It was the
early '90s and that stuff was all the rage in the
art world. I had made friends with Andrew Liang,
who was the owner of FORM ZERO Architectural Books,
and when he saw what I was working on, he commissioned
me to build a desk and work surface for behind the
cash register at his new store in Santa Monica.
Form Zero was a locus for young and critically aware
architects in LA, and my work was seen by several
of them, and I was asked to do several more small
commissions.
My design skills were developed by working with
these architects, who gave me an enlarged perspective
on how, Modern, minimal forms can be utilized in
architectural spaces. Building their furniture was
an excellent education in design. Although I had
always appreciated Modern design, it was through
the hands on fabrication of these projects that
I developed the design skills I still use today.
And, as it turned out, my first design client was
from someone I met through one of these young architects.
I do custom work for a couple of reasons. First,
it was the way I entered the field, designing and
building small-scale projects for clients. But more
importantly, custom design offers opportunities
to design furniture that is site specific, and often
times has more potential for experimentation and
play, than production furniture which has to work
in (virtually) every site. A lot of my work "opens"
in non-standard ways, that simply won't fit into
a lot of spaces, or floats off the floor in a way
that would be difficult to install if it were in
production.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, custom work
allows to me to work with people, interactively
in the creation of each new project. I enjoy the
collaborative process of presenting, refining and
developing my ideas with my clients. |
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Justin's
DJ Mixing Station
Teak Veneer Ply; top removed.
This cabinet was designed and fabricated for
a soap opera actor who was doing a complete
renovation of his home in Hollywood. We wanted
to create a space in the living room where
Justin and his friends could mix music and
have a good time. |
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Who or what
has influenced your work, and which designers do
you admire?
My major influences have always been in Art and
Architecture rather than furniture design per se.
I have always been drawn to the perceptual qualities
of form and space in the work of Donald
Judd. I never saw his work as being about repetition,
or form itself, but rather I was always interested
in how, any single person, standing in any location,
looking at his repeating forms, actually sees each
one of those forms as slightly different, owing
to the fact that each is viewed from a slightly
different perspective. I love to subtlety of Judd's
gesture, the way the work is so utterly contingent
upon the viewer, rather than the form itself. This
is not how Judd speaks of his work, but it is how
I see, and why I love that work. I am always interested
in how a viewer relates to an object, be it sculpture,
a bookcase, or an architectural space.
Bernard
Tschumi and his idea of Event Space, of architecture
as an event that is perceived by humans, also had
a critical role in my development as a designer.
I was reading a lot of French philosophy at the
time, and his writings used the theoretical premise
of these ideas as the basis for architecture as
an event to be perceived by the people who use it.
In some ways this is completely obvious, because
all space is understood through any person's perception
of that space, as they exist there. But what I loved
about Tschumi is that his architecture, for example
at Parc de La Villette in Paris, makes this relation
between the viewer and the architecture, manifest,
and offers the people who use that park the opportunity
to watch their own visual and spatial perceptions
transform they use the park. In other words, the
architecture of the park draws attention to itself
by engaging the perceptions of the people in the
park. In my work, I am always interested in creating
dramatic interactions between the furniture and
the people who use it. I work to create furniture
that engages people.
As for designers I admire, there are many...Marc
Newsome for knowing how to create such beautiful
forms, Kelly Wearstler, especially at Viceroy in
Palm Springs, for being so exuberant and at the
same time so perfectly controlled and elegant, The
Bouroullec Brothers for their range and ingenuity,
Issey Miyake for asking such amazing questions about
what clothing could be, and, recently, Tord Bonntje
for doing dishware at Target last Christmas, that
is as delightful as any of his other work, but affordable
for everyone. |
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Shoreham
Floating Kitchen
Mahogany Veneer Ply;
Solid Mahogany countertops.
This kitchen was designed as part of the remodel
of a studio apartment in Shoreham Towers,
off the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. The Cabinet
you see floats on a steel frame and allows
light and air to flow from the outside into
the kitchen space. The cabinet you see opening
in these images, functions from both the living
room, as storage and a wine rack, and also
from the kitchen as a sink cabinet with drawers
and built-in dishwasher. |
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Every piece
in your collection is made by hand. Take us through
the design and build process of a favorite piece.
In 2003, I was asked to build some bookcases for
a small addition, off a living room, for one of
my clients, the MacLaren’s. The reading nook,
as it was called, was a 9-foot long, 6-foot deep
projection, extending the living room space out
into the side yard. The three walls of the room
were floor to ceiling glass, with intense views
of the Hollywood Hills. My client did a quick sketch
that had the bookcase in front of the far window,
because she wanted to block the sight lines from
a neighbor's house, create a more private space,
and store most of a growing book collection there.
My initial response was that the reading nook was
a great space within the house to sit and read,
and look out onto the hills. Blocking the view seemed
to detract rather than enhance the quality of being
in that space and I had seen how sunlight could
fade the covers of books when left in the sun, so
a bookcase seemed less and less interesting as I
thought about the space. Through conversations with
the client, I had also discovered that they were
considering the purchase of some sort of entertainment
center/CD storage unit, so that they could access
their music from the living room.
My proposal was to change the function of the nook
from book storage to a book reading area, and to
combine this with the stereo cabinet plus CD storage
they wanted in the living room, and connect the
two functions in a single unit that transformed
itself from a couch inside the glass nook to a small
book storage area, and then as it turns the corner
into the living room becomes the stereo cabinet
and CD storage unit.
I wanted the cabinet to cantilever off the wall
to give the appearance of hovering off the floor.
Furniture that does not have legs plays with our
most basic assumptions of the world, because it
does not fall to the ground, even though it has
nothing apparently there to support it. This playful
gesture engages people who look carefully with an
apparently magical kind of hovering of the cabinet
above the ground.
And if one continues to look carefully, you can
see that there are some oddly placed reveals around
the cabinet in various places. To add another layer
of play to the design, we created CD storage cases
that are accessed by sliding the top of the cabinet
horizontally, revealing the titles of the CDs as
you look down at them. As with most of my work,
these sliding doors are meant to engage the user
with an unconventional and dramatic impression of
the furniture.
As for building of this piece, this was actually
the first time I hired a fabricator to build the
entire project. Before this project, I would always
start building with a general idea of what I wanted,
and develop the details as I built. This time, however,
I was forced to completely develop the project beforehand.
I now have all my work fabricated by the people
in my shop, and this makes so much sense because
I never loved the fabrication part of the work,
but always loved the design part. |
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Michele's
Floating Sideboard
Maple Veneer Ply; wine and glass storage;
CD drawers.
This piece is on a wall opposite the kitchen
in a house that the client was renovating.
She wanted a broom closet near the kitchen
and some additional storage space for wine
and glasses, so we came up with this solution
for a floating cabinet that opens in this
unexpected way. As it turned out, the broom
closet was converted into CD storage by installing
drawers about six months after the project
was initially completed. |
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What's the most
rewarding product you have designed? Why?
The most rewarding design is usually my most recent
project. The reason I so enjoy custom design is
that I am always pushing my ideas further and developing
new solutions to the problems that interest me.
Currently, my most rewarding design is the Zebrawood
Entertainment Center/Dresser from the Poster/Neutra
apartment.
I did this piece as part of an exhibition to celebrate
the opening of the newly remodeled Poster Apartments,
by Richard Neutra, in Los Angeles. It was designed
to transition between the living room and bedroom
by wrapping around a shared wall and operating as
separate items, even though it is all one thing.
As it turned out I ended up moved into that apartment
and now live there, so one of the reasons I find
this design so rewarding is that I am able to live
with it, and watch it in my daily life (which is
unusual because most of my work is installed in
a specific location, and is not repeatable). There
are two things in particular that I enjoy again
and again: 1) the way that the cabinet transforms
itself in terms of form, as various compartments
are accessed; and 2) the way it floats off the floor
and hovers as it moves around the wall. |
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Entertainment
Center/Storage Cabinet/Dresser
Manufactured Zebrawood Veneer (Brookline)
on Plywood.
I wanted this piece to be dramatic and really
work with the small space of the apartment,
to add utility and surprise to the experience
of being there. The apartment is a newly remodeled
Richard Neutra building in North Hollywood,
CA. The thing that struck me about the apartment
was that the living room and the bedroom were
connected by a 7-foot doorway/transition space.
I wanted to take advantage of that that unique
space and design a cabinet that transitioned
between both spaces and brought them together,
even as they each maintain their own "space".
The cabinet floats 10 inches off the floor
and appears to finger lock into the wall. |
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Is there any
advice you'd give to those trying to break into
the furniture industry?
I have been very fortunate in how my career has
developed. Early on, I did some work for a developer
who was really dedicated to modern, minimal design,
and gave me a lot of freedom to play and experiment
with my design. The tradeoff was that I did not
make a great deal of money on those projects, but
they did give me the opportunity to explore and
develop my work in the real world.
My advice is twofold:
1) Always do what you are passionate about;
2) Surround yourself with people who share your
design interests. Community matters, and being around
people who are supportive of your work is the best
motivation to keep you moving forward.
And let me just say one more thing...which is that
it is so important to show your work to a lot of
people. Don't expect anything from any given person,
but it is always good to keep your work out in the
world. The process keeps me connected to my work,
and simultaneously engaged with the outside world. |
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Sliding
Coffee Table
White lacquer over MDF, with Ultra Suede cushions.
This was designed as a coffee table that could
be opened at parties and used for additional
seating, and still serve as a table to put
your drinks, etc., on...and that could be
closed up when everyone went home. As it turns
out, kids love to sit on the doors and slide
back and forth all day. Adults need a glass
of wine to do the same thing. |
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What are you
looking forward to most in 2007?
2007 is shaping up into being an exciting year.
We are moving our studio to a larger space, in a
much more convenient location, and will allow us
to purchase some new, and much needed, equipment.
We are hiring a new person to work in the shop and,
as always, we are looking for new and interesting
projects; to facilitate this, we are going to be
focusing a lot of attention on marketing and brand
development. We have a low budget marketing plan
that focuses on meeting more and more people, showing
them our portfolio, and gaining some much needed
exposure.
On the design front, in addition to our current
projects we are working on some preliminary designs
for a new kind of restaurant/health food store/design
venue where you can purchase not only the food you
eat, but also the furniture you sit on, the plates
you eat off, and virtually everything in the store.
Most of all, we are looking to move the firm steadily
forward and to continue doing work that we love. |
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MacLaren
Stereo Cabinet + Couch
Solid Mahogany construction, Knoll upholstery
What struck me about this space when I really
looked at it, was how it was both an extension
of the living room and separate from the living
room at the same time. And what I was interested
in, was how the two spaces merged together.
So it only seemed natural at the time to design
a piece of furniture that moved between the
two spaces, and the two functions it has,
as a music storage cabinet and a sitting space
(couch). |
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