Craig Thibodeau's Art Deco Chess Table

Craig Thibodeau in his studio

Craig Thibodeau grew up around woodworking and enjoyed it as a hobby. He earned a degree in mechanical engineering and started a career in industrial product design. However, after his children were born, his hobby became a home-based vocation and his workshop became a professional studio.

A series of specialized courses

To intensify and deepen this transition he immersed himself in a series of specialized courses, such as:

• Advanced marquetry and veneering with Paul Shurch
• Hand applied finishes at the College of the Redwoods
• Traditional French Marquetry with Patrick Edwards
• Compound Bending with Brian Newell

This is part one of a two-part post

In this first part I'll focus on a few Ruhlmann-inspired Art Deco furniture pieces. I spoke with Craig after I made my last two posts: 'Rodney Black's Art Deco vision for Lady Christine IV interiors'; and 'Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann: genius of Art Deco' . Since I was planning to do a post on Craig's marquetry-enriched furniture designs, he suggested that I start with a few of his Art Deco tables and accessories.

As Silas Kopf pointed out in my last post:

"The man who has had the greatest influence on designer-craftsmen of furniture in the last 100 years is undoubtedly Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann"

One fine example of this is Craig Thibodeau's Art Deco Chess table

  

  Art Deco Chess Table

    (Click on image for picture viewer)

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David J. Marks - Marquetry Innovator and Teacher

David J. Marks Designer Craftsman 

David J. Marks

Artist's Statement

 "My work expresses a sense of time and mystery. My inspiration is derived from a fusion of styles including ancient Egyptian, African, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Asian. But essential to all my designs is the attention I pay to fine details.
 After studying art at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz, I moved to Santa Rosa and began working in cabinet and furniture shops during the 1970s. In 1981, I opened my own Santa Rosa studio and built one-of-a-kind furniture throughout the 1980s. In the 90s, my focus shifted towards wood turning and sculpture."Today, besides my continued work in fine woodworking, I am interested in 
 patination.The patina finish that is a trademark of my work, is a hybrid I’ve developed over the last decade. It combines painting, gilding (metal leafing), chemical patinas, and lacquering techniques. The complex layers result in something that gives the appearance of a faux, ancient, petrified stone quality."

Sculptural Inlay Art

Gregg Novosad, Divine Design - Marrying Technology with Creativity

Gregg Novosad

Gregg Novosad is combining an expertise in 21st century technology with a mastery of fine furniture making to explore new illustrative and expressive possibilities for marquetry and other forms of decorative veneering.

http://www.clickdivine.com/ 

Craftsman and Teacher

He has been published in Fine Woodworking, Woodwork and Woodworker's Journal magazines, and is listed in Wood magazine's "Gallery of Woodworking Greats." Gregg has won several awards, including the grand prize in the 2008 Veneer Tech's Craftsman Challenge.

Gregg teaches a couple of classes at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking:

• SketchUp Primer With Gregg Novosad

• Marrying Technology with Creativity: Divine Design with Gregg Novosad

 From: http://www.marcadams.com/instructors.php 

at Marc Adams School of Woodworking

Self-taught Woodworker
 

"I've been around woodworking since I was a child, watching my dad build cabinets in our garage with the simplest of tools. From that humble beginning, I went on a life-long journey evolving my skills as a self-taught woodworker--from building bars and stereo cabinets in college to ultimately running a woodworking company. After college I started a technology-consulting firm, where I gained an appreciation for a structured approach that incorporates employee skills development. After 14 years, I sold the business and intensified my woodworking journey."

Skills Development Plan

Gregg devised a personal skills development plan with a series of steps requiring core knowledge of a technique and a project to demonstrate that skill. He went from joinery, to turning, to wood bending, to shaping, finally to veneering. After building his first marquetry piece in 2005, he had an "aha!" moment that focused his attention on decorative veneering. "Marquetry gave me the perfect mix of creativity along with hands-on satisfaction of woodworking."

Tool Chest

Gregg Novosad's

Winning Tool Chest

Fine Woodworking's

Tool Chest Contest

July, 2009

Reading Pierre Ramond's Masterpieces of Marquetry gave him a clear vision of what he wanted to learn from the European master 'ebenistes' like Oben, Roentgen, and Linke.

The power of storytelling

One night, while watching Robert Redford describe the basics of a good story on the Sundance channel, Gregg reflected on how to apply this to decorative veneering. He created "storylining" for using basic storytelling techniques of character, conflict, and resolution in his marquetry designs. This, along with an infusion of wry humor, added a new dimension to his functional furniture art that could put a smile on people's faces.

He combined his experience in technology, design, and woodworking to create "Divine Design", a design configurator that customers can use to compose their own storylines over the web using customizable design components to create tables, countertops and door panels. He started "Studio Divine," for making one-of-a-kind artistic furniture and completely custom designs that can't be done via the "Divine Design" configurator.

Gregg Novosad, quoted from an article in WOOD magazine