Nathaniel Stegall's Sustainable Prairie Furniture

Nathaniel Stegall 

Wisdom Furniture's founder / designer

Nathaniel Stegall

A Furniture Studio Based In Pretty Prairie, Kansas...

Wisdom Furniture’s distinctive sustainable furniture pieces reflect the unique background, convictions, and passions of designer and founder Nathaniel Stegall.

  

"We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future" -- G.B. Shaw

L. Hardy Stegall

L. Hardy Stegall

founder / artisan / dad

Wisdom Furniture arose as a result of founder and artisan Hardy Stegall’s love and respect for natural materials, and his skill as a precision craftsman.

Frank Lloyd Wright Inspired Marquetry

I've often wondered how the Prairie Style and spirit of Frank Lloyd Wright would manifest in marquetry. Now I have a good idea - kd

"Wisdom Furniture’s geometric marquetry designs are inspired in part by the art-glass windows of Frank Lloyd Wright and other Prairie-style architects and give our work a unique aesthetic quality."

"Wisdom Furniture"
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Toby Winteringham - Open Studios and Update

Here's a quick news update

 

Norfolk Open Studios: 

Galaxy is a new design which plays tricks on the viewer

 
A bolder statement than some of Toby Winteringham's other round marquetry mirror designs, but worth the committment. Sycamore with burr american black walnut. 

"Galaxy" by Toby Winteringham

Toby Winteringham Studio News 

The Phase sideboard and Bureau were featured in the Saturday Telegraph and Sunday Times Home section this month resulting in several inquiries and sale of the Bureau. We are delighted that the articles were both celebrating hand made crafts.

www.Toby Winteringham.com

The Queen Mary, Spindler Studio and Bettys Cafe Tea Rooms

Bettys Café Tea Rooms, York 

Bettys Cafe Tea Rooms, York

My recent post about the David Linley marquetry art panel for the Queen Elizabeth reminded me of Paul Spindler's marquetry panels for the Queen Mary and the Bettys Cafe Tea Rooms story...

In 1919, Frederick Belmont, a confectioner by trade, opened the first of his Bettys tea rooms in Harrogate. The blend of Yorkshire hospitality with Swiss culinary precision was a hit and royal patronage soon followed. The tea rooms remain popular today yet have retained the elegance and style of the past. You can still view the Art Nouveau marquetry designs of Yorkshire scenes on the walls in the basement, known as the Spindler Gallery that Belmont commissioned from Paul Spindler of the Spindler studio in Alsace [Charles Spindler (1865-1938); Paul Spindler (1906-1980); Jean-Charles Spindler, Paul’s son, took over the day-to-day operation of the workshop in 1975]. 

Interior design inspired by the Queen Mary cruise liner

 In 1936 Belmont traveled on the maiden voyage of the Queen Mary. He was so enthralled by the splendor of the ship that he commissioned the Queen Marys’ designers and craftsmen to turn a furniture store into his most sophisticated branch yet – an elegant café right in the heart of York, Bettys' York branch.

 

The Art Deco Elegance of the Belmont Room

The art deco elegance of the Queen Mary is particularly evident in the first floor Belmont Room which was based on one of the cruise liner’s state rooms. Today, as you sit in Bettys surrounded by huge curved windows, elegant wood panelling and ornate mirrors, you can almost imagine yourself aboard the historic ocean liner.

 Photos and portions of text courtesy of Bettys Cafe Tea Rooms

 

Cunard and David Linley Honor Queen Elizabeth with Marquetry Artwork

David Linley

Linley's Marquetry Artwork Commission 

Both David Linley and the marquetry traditions of Cunard's Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth ocean liners are on my blog post topics to-do list. I'm traveling with my family, thus short on time - here's the news, starting with the intro from Cunard's press release and ending with a passage from Sue Bryant's piece for Cruise Critic:

20 May 2010 - Yesterday, in Chelsea near London, Cunard Line unveiled the stunning centerpiece for the Grand Lobby of the Line's newest ship, Queen Elizabeth, debuting this fall. The artwork was specially commissioned to David Linley, son of the late Princess Margaret and the internationally famous photographer Lord Snowdon - and Her Majesty The Queen's only nephew - whose company specializes in the design and creation of fine furniture and marquetry. Linley's magnificent work shows the port bow of the original Queen Elizabeth seen dramatically from sea level, and is intricately executed using the technique of marquetry inlay with nine individual panels made of various types of wood veneers seamlessly jointed to lightweight board.

David Linley and Peter Shanks
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Cunard's Wow Factor 

Queen Elizabeth Art (May 20, 2010, 5 p.m. EDT) -- A fittingly royal touch for Cunard's new Queen Elizabeth was unveiled last night. 

The backdrop to the sweeping staircase descending into the 90,400-ton ship's magnificent Grand Lobby, the first area passengers see on boarding, is going to be an intricate marquetry panel, two and a half decks high, depicting the original Queen Elizabeth -- and designed by master wood craftsman David Linley.

Viscount Linley, whose clients include Oprah Winfrey and perfume magnate Jo Malone, trained in cabinet-making under John Makepeace and founded his design company, Linley, in 1985. He has gone on to become a huge international success, creating exquisite inlaid wooden furniture that comes with a hefty price tag; at the big reveal of the panel last night in Linley's spacious Belgravia showroom, journalists and Cunard executives awkwardly circled a £16,500 table, not quite knowing where to put their drinks down.

So what's the thinking behind the panel? Peter Shanks, president and managing director of Cunard, told the gathering last night: "We needed to fill that space with something which would not just be dramatic, a "wow" factor in an area already full of "wow," but which would also reflect our emphasis on traditional and sumptuous materials."

"Once we had decided on the theme and the medium, it didn't take us long to conclude that no one was better qualified for this detailed but monumental work than the company of the exceptional craftsman David Linley, whose creative ability and mastery of wood is renowned."

Artist's rendering of Art Deco Panel
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 Art Deco Panel in Marquetry
 

The panel is undeniably stunning and will make a superb backdrop for formal photographs. It'll be made of nine wooden veneers, including Indian ebony, American walnut, bird's eye maple and grey ripple sycamore. The finished product will be shipped to the Fincantieri shipyard at Monfalcone, Italy, where Queen Elizabeth is under construction, and assembled over a period of four days.

LINLEY's Chairman, David Linley, who founded the company in 1985, commented: 

"I recall my father saying the interior design of Cunard's Queen Elizabeth 2 made one proud to be British, so I am hoping our achievement on the new Queen Elizabeth will make him -- and others -- equally proud."

As a result, Linley, a company specialising in the design and manufacture of fine furniture and marquetry was commissioned to design and make this stunning centrepiece at the heart of the ship. Work is currently under way, and the completed panel will be shipped during the summer to the Fincantieri shipyard at Monfalcone, Italy, where it will be installed over a period of four days to take pride of place just before the ship enters service in October.

Patternity's Marquetry Arrives with Hidden Art in Milan 2010

Grace Winteringham presents her Phase Bureau with Hidden Art in Milan 2010

Detail: Phase pattern on central leaf and Grace Winteringham
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Father and Daughter Collaboration

A quick nod to this lovely Father and Daughter collaboration highlighted in my earlier Toby Winteringham and Patternity post. The new images and quotes come from a May 14th, 2010 post at Purewhite - Designs by Kirsty White: 

"The collaboration with daughter, Grace, has borne fruit. Her company, Patternity, has been selected by Hidden Art to go to Salone Satellite 2010 in Milan."

"The Phase pattern used in the range explores traditional marquetry craft revisited – true to the technique, the design represents the transitions between cutting out and replacing in, combining old with new, bold with neutral.

I think it was really refreshing to see a traditional technique using contemporary pattern and colour."

Here are the designers and Hidden Art team

at Hidden Art Milan 2010... the fab 5

To view all Purewhyte products please visit the website www.purewhyte.com 

For Patternity, visit www.patternity.co.uk

Hella Jongerius - Jongeriuslab - Swatch Table Edition

Hella Jongerius 

Hella Jongerius
Photo of Hella is from: 
http://greatdesigners.wordpress.com 

The Dutch designer-maker HELLA JONGERIUS (1963-) works on the cusp of design, craft, art and technology to fuse traditional and contemporary influences, high tech and low tech, the industrial and artisanal. 

Born in De Meern in 1963, she studied industrial design at the Eindhoven Design Academy and has since combined elements of that discipline with those of traditional craftsmanship in products, textiles and ceramics. Many of her early designs were manufactured by Droog, the influential Dutch design collective, and she now puts her own work into production through Jongeriuslab, her Rotterdam studio, as well as developing products for manufacturers such as Maharam, Royal Tichelaar Makkum and Vitra. See Hella Jongerius' work at jongeriuslab.com.

Hella Jongerius: Contemporary Archetypes

Premiere at the Museum of Arts and Design
May 16, 2009 at 2:00pm
Contemporary Archtypes Video
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York

Produced and Directed by Amie Knox
Executive Producers: Jill A. Wiltse and H. Kirk Brown III
Edited by Chad Herschberger

Hella Jongerius: Contemporary Archetypes New York Premiere at the Museum of Arts and Design May 16th 2009

Hella Jongerius: Contemporary Archetypes from Design Onscreen on Vimeo.

Hella Jongerius Book

Book
Hella Jongerius – the first book on a young, highly talented designer with a burgeoning career and rave reviews in the international press. Curators describe Jongerius as ‘a unique talent who has no rivals’ (MoMA design curator Paola Antonelli); and ‘one of the most significant designers in the world today’ (Aaron Betsky, head of the Netherlands Architecture Institute).

A book that captures the ‘next wave’ of product design, introducing a leading figure in the new generation of designers of the 21st century. 

Pieter Maes' Marquetry Project

Pieter Maes

Pieter Maes is a young up-and-coming designer based in Antwerp, Belgium.  Since graduating from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2004, he has been the catalyst for numerous product, architectural, interior and furniture design projects. In 2007, Maes hooked-up with Vincent Van Duysen Architects of Antwerp, Belgium to earn his stripes in the field of furniture design.  Since 2007, Maes has been launching new residential furniture ideas into the world through his design firm, Make Agency.

Brastilo of New York City

Recently Pieter Maes has teamed up with Brastilo of New York City, United States. Brastilo, an internet retailer, showcases a unique collection of contemporary residential furniture and accessories.  Each piece of furniture is handcrafted in Brazil from wood that comes from eco-friendly sustainable forests. This cabinet from the marquetry range uses four different woods with Eucalyptus as the main material. “I was first drawn to Brastilo because of their philosophy of making sustainable products,” states Pieter.  “In addition, this collaboration gives me the opportunity to work with solid wood. This is a medium that allows me to shape the wood in sculptural ways.  I enjoy working with Brazil’s skilled craftsmen and was impressed with their knowledge and respect for wood.”

Brastilo and Pieter Maes to Debut New Contemporary Furniture Collection at ICFF

Serra Cabinet  -  Peter Maes for Brastillo

"Minas Gerais is a state in Brazil that is very mountainous and beautiful.  The inspiration for this cabinet comes from these mountains and how light plays among the ridges.  “Serra” is the word for mountains in Portuguese.  Thus, from the inspiration comes the name of the cabinet."  Pieter Maes

Serra Cabinet

Although Pieter Maes is schooled in European modernism and Bauhaus design, he understands and is inspired by traditional woodworking techniques. He honors these craftsmen by highlighting their skilled work in his contemporary designs. (from Brastillo)