RADAR / SCENE
MEET the MAKER
TALKING SHOP SJOTIME INDUSTRIES
At first glance, the handcrafted pieces that comprise custom furniture company Sjotime Industries’ first line of ready-made residential furnishings are striking in their simplicity. Crafted of white oak, these modern tables, seats and accessories rely on subtle details—notched tops that expose the end grain of subtly angled legs, the linear quality of rift-sawn wood—to catch the eye. But according to Sjotime (pronounced “show time”) founder Dan Sjogren, this style, which takes cues from Scandinavian furniture designs, is anything but simple. “The attention to detail, the primacy of materials in their natural state and the elegance of execution and composition…is a very challenging aesthetic to achieve,” he says. To pull it off, he and his team use modern technology and time-tested techniques to build each piece. The finished products are sold online and, as of last summer, at the Sjo Room, a storefront in Denver’s Golden Triangle neighborhood that Sjogren designed to feel like an apartment. “There’s an uncluttered, Scandinavian vibe to the interiors that’s meant to highlight the personality of each piece while giving customers a feel for how the furniture and artwork might work in their own homes,” he says. sjotime.com
090 / luxesource.com
Close your eyes and wrap your hands around a perfectly imperfect tumbler or pot by Boulder-based ceramicist Steffanie Woodward and you’ll find that her porcelain creations feel just as good as they look. Perhaps that’s because the founder of Lera Ceramics often makes her one-of-a-kind pieces with her eyes closed. “There is something about ceramics that is visceral to me,” she says. “It’s almost meditative.” Woodward encourages that feeling by handbuilding each functional object—without a potter’s wheel and using minimal tools—in her Airstream trailer-turned-studio using the techniques of pinch, coil and slab before finishing them with soft white glazes and doodle-like line drawings. “My work isn’t perfectly symmetrical, straight or smooth,” she says, “but the combination of simple and minimal with the added beauty of imperfection is special.” Shop for Woodward’s designs online or locally at Meek Vintage, the Artisan Center and at Guest House shoppable homes, and stay tuned for new items to covet, including ceramic and woven wool wall art. leraceramics.com
WRITTEN BY CHRISTINE DEORIO
talking shop photos: courtesy sjotime industries and kylie fitts. meet the maker photos: steffanie woodward.
STEFFANIE WOODWARD