How to Be a Good Furniture Maker

HOW TO BE A GOOD FURNITURE MAKER

HOW TO BE A GOOD FURNITURE MAKER? JACK XĂœ

DEFINE THE TASK

This idea is more narrative and linear. How to become an excellent furniture maker? The answer won’t be simply practice. Asking a career path leads to a bunch of questions following up.

Obviously, it involves reading a lot of furniture making magazines. The result can be achieved by knowledge plus practice, mostly practice. But other few things matters as well, as if physical requirements, talent, aesthetic taste, the ability of problem solving, etc. The knowledge part may involve knowing of different kind of wood and their properties, furniture making techniques and skills, tool knowledges, or greater furniture makers and their works, etc. A wide range of information will be collected. A great number of excellent furniture makers live and work in LA. I can visit some of them about how to achieve their excellency and most likely they are willing to brag about their rocky career. An info-graphic poster about a certain profession will be interesting to design. And the final project output can be a physical furniture. Or it also can be a visual map of this profession, it depends on what do different people focus on or how far they are willing to go.

Years ago, furniture making are not recognizable as a form of designing.

“Maybe because furniture is functional, it has never been accepted as art—at least not until the designer has been dead for several years. But it is beginning to change. Today, galleries are beginning to show furniture, and museums and art collectors are buying it” (Frid 2). And then, people start to respect furniture making. “The Arts and Crafts Movement has had the most powerful and last- ing effect of all design movements of the twentieth century on designers and architects throughout the world.

The Arts and Crafts Movement was a reformist impulse occurring first in England in the mid nineteenth century, in part as a reaction to the increasingly poor quality and design of machine-made objects”(Ostergard 27).

More and more designers dedicate themselves into furniture making and designing. “It is sad that some of these noble trees, awesome cathedrals of the forests, are debauched by the greed, insensitivity and gracelessness of man. We work with boards from these trees, to fulfill their yearning for a second life, to release their richness and beauty. From these planks we fashion objects useful to man, and if nature wills, things of beauty. In any case, these objects harmonize the rhythms of nature to fulfill the tree’s destiny and ours” (Nakashima xxi).

CURRENT Furniture makers make business and write books about how to become a good furniture maker. And they all come up with one solution—doing it. “No one process, jig, machine, or book can confer mastery. The way to mastering joinery is to make joints. It’s the time you spend learning, making mistakes, backing up, and starting all over again. The time you spend in the shop is the real pay-off; the furniture you build a wonderful bonus” (Rogowski 2). “The more experience you have, the better — I

don’t know of any shortcuts. There is nothing wrong with making art and getting well paid for it, but when furniture is finally accepted as art, it must not be at the expense of its fine tradition of craftsmanship and respect for the material”(Frid 2). “A craftsman never failed at business due to his lack of crafts- manship; he failed due to his lack of business management” (Sunderland).

DESIGN PIECES A strong belief and philosophy behind every piece an artisan made is essential.“...I believe in the balance between form, material, and function.

Good design has the ability to survive over time” (Kushins). With the boost of technology, people tend to use new ways to make furnitures. “However, rather than design in the computer, I designed each part by sketching and hand drafting vectors for digital conversion, or hand-sculpting forms for 3D capture and mod- eling. With this piece, I was hoping to examine what new possibilities for craft are emerging as we become ever more digital” (Bremer). “Released in 2011 after a successful Kickstarter, SketchChair’s open software makes it easy to de- sign functional, customized furnishings using a 2D “sketching” interface that turns your drawings into chairs” (France). New uses of different materials, different ways with different tool sets, can be a furniture making sea to exploring. “I have always enjoyed using woods that have blemishes such as insect holes and spalting but it wasn’t until just a few years ago that I made my first piece that I think clearly falls into the urban natural genre, a breakfast table in mesquite and live oak” (Fry).

France, Anna K. “Open CNC Furniture.”

MAKE:. Makezine, 18 Mar. 2014. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.

Frid, Tage. Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking, Book 3: Furnituremaking. Newtown, CT: Taunton, 1985. Print.

Fry, Louis. “Louis Fry / A Furniture Maker’s Blog.” Web log post. Louis Fry A Furniture Makers Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.

Kushins, Jordan, ed. “The Norsk Face.”

Dwell Oct. 2009: 106. Print.

Nakashima, George. The Soul of a Tree: A Woodworker’s Reflections.

Ed. George Wald. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1981. Print.

Ostergard, Derek E. George Nakashima: Full Circle. New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989. Print.

Rogowski, Gary. The Complete Illustrated Guide to Joinery. Newtown, CT: Taunton, 2002. Print.

Sunderland, J. Wesley. “Going Pro Is Serious Business.” Fine Wood Working Feb. 2014: 10. Print.

SECONDARY RESEARCH

HISTORY

Idea mapping Jack Xu

Turning

Dwell Magazine

Product Design

Architecture

Environmental Design

Furniture Design

Foot (Opportunity)

Molding

Joinery (Interesting)

Skills

Fine Woodworking Magazine

Chip Carving

Tricks

Acanthus

Stretcher

3D Print (Interesting)

Carpentry

Power Tools

Furniture Maker Woodworker

Knowledge Of Woods (Discover)

Jan Lee

Sam Maloof

Arthur “Art� Espenet Carpenter

George Nakashima (Opportunity)

Mira Nakashima

Philosophy (Interesting)

The Arts And Crafts Movement (Discover)

Hand Tools (Opportunity)

Louis XVI Georgian

History

Victorian Period Chippendale (Discover) Hepplewhite Sheraton

Baroque Rococo

IDEA MAPPING

Workshop

Through the processing of idea mapping, these information lays on the table and becomes much more visual. At the end of some branches, I find several crux which could be worth researching more.

INTEREST Joinery: I find that joinery can be a very interesting topic by itself. Chinese, and Japanese carpenter masters invented a number of brilliant joints which can be applying to various kinds of furnitures and architectures. It is also core knowledge to obtain by a good furniture maker today. Majority of the joints require high level skills and sophisticated designs and plans. It can be a measurement for how good is a furniture maker.

3D Print: Of course 3D printing is interesting. There are not a lot book reference to it because it is so new. But definitely a lot of magazines and websites are posting 3D printing techniques and news every single day. People make everything with 3D printers. Everything also includes furnitures. This cutting edge technology is impacting the furniture making industry more and more. It is redefining furniture designers.

Philosophy behind George Nakashima: I love Nakashima. I want to know what’s the big idea behind his masterpieces.

OPPORTUNITY George Nakashima: He is a legend in furniture makers. Find more information about him may leads to something good. He is the perfect candidate for a case study of furniture maker. He dedicates his all life to furnitures.

But more than furnitures, his spiritual legacy is far more influencing. He is a opportunity of finding the soul of artisans.

Hand Tools: “Good tools are prerequisite to the successful execution of a job”, it’s a Chinese saying. To achieve different effects and results, a variety of tools are invented. A beautiful tool set is visually pleasing itself. It will be an opportunity to discover a furniture maker’s style and thoughts.

Power tools are invented after industrial revolution for efficiency. So there is less value in these. Hand tools can be delicate.

Foot: Those foot of furnitures from Chippendale style can be attractive. It may or may not be a chance to explore why there is a dragon claw grabbing a ball? Behind that might be the philosophy supporting the whole style.

DISCOVER Knowledge of Woods: It can be a topic by itself. A sea of information can be explore. And it relates to furniture making tightly. Knowing what kind of wood one should use is like knowing what kind of food a chef is cooking. A furniture maker’s fundamental knowledge of material.

Chippendale: It is a designer and a style in the same time. It is also a representation of a furniture icon. It may be the peak period of traditional furniture making. Need to discover the reason behind its glory.

The Arts and Crafts Movement: It is considered as a transitional period in furniture history. What has been changed before and after this period?

What kind of impact it does on artisans? All kinds of answers can be found in this period of time.

IDEA MAPPING

IDEA MAPPING DISCOVERY

Western furnitures are expensive, geometric, functionoriented, masculine, with abstract ornaments.

PRIMARY RESEARCH - AMERICAN FURNITURE

OBSERVATION ONE

Chinese furnitures are expensive as well, organic, decoration-oriented, feminine, with objective ornaments.

PRIMARY RESEARCH - CHINESE FURNITURE

OBSERVATION TWO

OBSERVATION COMPARISON After two trips to the furniture stores, quite a few features can be identified from observation. First of all, they are all utterly expensive.

None of them is made by machines.

Ikea furnitures are made only by Machines, and they are much cheaper. Mostly because of two reasons, one is that labor is costly in the US, and the other one is they are all a little bit vintage.

American Furniture

Chinese Furniture

We can see these furniture makers are greatly influenced by their culture. Their different cultural behaviors produce different furniture styles and features.

COLLAGES

I found that the western furnitures are straightforward, even decorations are geometric and abstract.

The engraved decorations do not represent any real life objects.

Straight lines are dominantly used. But Chinese furnitures are thoroughly distinct. There is a lot of the imagery involved in the engraved decorations and on the wood panels.

Good Furniture Maker, Rich Furniture User

Observation One: Western furnitures are expensive, geometric, functionoriented, masculine, with abstract ornaments.

With the boost of the technology, goods production become easier and easier. The value of a piece of furniture dramatically drops down by the result of mass production. Human labor on a piece of furniture cannot be comparable with machines.

What can furniture makers nowadays make then?

They should make something only human can make, which means they will be difficult or too expensive for machines to produce. That will be the value of human touch, the value of furniture makers today.

It also raise the cost and price of a piece of furniture, that is the reason why only upper class clients will purchase and customize furnitures from a furniture maker.

“Maybe because furniture is functional, it has never been accepted as art—at least not until the designer has been dead for several years. But it is beginning to change. Today, galleries are beginning to show furniture, and museums and art collectors are buying it” (Frid 2).

“No one process, jig, machine, or book can confer mastery. The way to mastering joinery is to make joints. It’s the time you spend learning, making mistakes, backing up, and starting all over again. The time you spend in the shop is the real pay-off; the furniture you build a wonderful bonus” (Rogowski 2).

Observation Comparison

Idea mapping Jack Xu

Turning

Dwell Magazine

Product Design

Architecture

Environmental Design

Furniture Design

Process Map

Foot (Opportunity)

Molding

Joinery (Interesting)

Skills

Fine Woodworking Magazine

WK2 Initial secondary research in the library and online on furniture making.

WK3 Idea mapping discovery, visualize the information regarding to the subject.

WK4 First time primary research, photograph in an American furniture store.

WK5 Second time primary research, photograph in a Chinese furniture store.

WK6 Observation on the similarities and differences between two photo-shooting, and making of collages.

WK7 Poster making and thesis defining.

After two trips to the furniture stores, quite a few features can be identified from observation. First of all, they are all utterly expensive.

None of them is made by machines. Ikea furnitures are made only by machines and they are much cheaper. Mostly because of two reasons, one is that labor is costly in the US, and the other one is they are all a little bit vintage.

I found that the western furnitures are straightforward, even decorations are geometric and abstract. The engraved decorations do not represent any real life objects. Straight lines are dominantly used. But Chinese furnitures are thoroughly distinct. There are a lot of imagery involved in the engraved decorations and on the wood panels.

Chip Carving

Tricks

Acanthus

Stretcher

3D Print (Interesting)

Carpentry

Power Tools

We can see these furniture makers are greatly influenced by their culture. Their different cultural behaviors produce different furniture styles and features.

Furniture Maker Workshop

Woodworker

Knowledge Of Woods (Discover)

Jan Lee

Walnut River Hall Table, Greg Klassen Frid, Tage. Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking, Book 3: Furnituremaking. Newtown, CT: Taunton, 1985. Print.

Klassen, Greg. Walnut River Hall Table. Digital image. Greg Klassen Furniture Maker. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.

Rogowski, Gary. The Complete Illustrated Guide to Joinery. Newtown, CT: Taunton, 2002. Print.

Sam Maloof

Arthur “Art” Espenet Carpenter

George Nakashima (Opportunity)

Mira Nakashima

Philosophy (Interesting)

Louis XVI Georgian

History

The Arts And Crafts Movement (Discover)

Victorian Period Chippendale (Discover) Hepplewhite Sheraton

Through the processing of idea mapping, these information lays on the table and becomes much more visual. At the end of some branches, I find several crux which could be worth researching more.

Conclusion

Hand Tools (Opportunity)

Baroque Rococo

With the raise of the cost of labor, furnitures become more and more expensive and less and less affordable. A good piece of furniture are related to its material(s), design, and techniques. A huge amount of time has been invested on one piece. These several factors make furnitures now high-end. Rich people with their own properties tend to invest on customized or high-end furnitures, sometimes purchase them as an art or design form. That makes an illusion that handmade furnitures are always made for rich people.

Jack Xu Spring 2015 Art of Research

MID-TERM POSTER

Assumption

Observation Two: Chinese furnitures are expensive as well, organic, decoration-oriented, feminine, with objective ornaments.

With the rise of the cost of labor, furnitures become more and more expensive and less and less affordable. A good piece of furniture are related to its material(s), design, and techniques. A huge amount of time has been invested on one piece. These several factors make furnitures now high-end. Rich people with their own properties tend to invest on customized or high-end furnitures, sometimes purchase them as an art or design form. That makes an illusion that handmade furnitures are always made for rich people.

Interviewer: Jack Xu 03/13/2015 Friday 03:00pm

Interviewee: Cliff Spencer, Owner 13435 Beach Ave, Marina del Rey, CA 90292 310.823.0112 www.cliffspencer.net

Cliff: My name is Cliff Spencer, and my company name is called Cliff Spencer Furniture Maker. My wife’s name is Leigh Spencer. And we run the business together. We’ve been in the business about ten years. We do custom cabinetry and furniture. And the custom furnitures we also do our own products and designs that we sell directly to customers and retailers.

Jack: Do you have kids?

Cliff: Yeah, I have two kids. I have a four-yearold daughter and a nine-year-old son.

Jack: How many years do you think that is reasonable amount of time to become a decent furniture maker?

Cliff: I got a clear answer for you, I say it takes three years of being apprentice of learning before you gain some proficiency, to be able to make things on your own. For me to be able to build a hand of your drawing, and you take it and know how to do it from there. It takes three years to just working for other people and learning, minimum, to get a basic level of understand to be able to build something from the designs.

Jack: Can you define “a good furniture maker”?

Cliff: I say a good furniture maker is someone who has a high degree of proficiency, mastery of their craft of woodworking, senses of knowledge of wood joinery of different types of wood, different woodworking techniques, familiarity with all the different woodworking machines.

Besides, they can do a lot of different types of wood joinery with good precision, speed, and accuracy. And design, they have to be able to understand the aesthetics of proportion and function, have to have a good sense of style that’s appealing to, makes beautiful valuable object rather than over-design, or overly conceptual, useless stuff. Furniture is essentially something you need to use. I think it’s only as valuable as it is useful. If you can’t use it, you can’t sit on it, or you can’t store things in, then it’s just something to look at.

Jack: So you are more to the functional side?

Cliff: Yeah, that’s what I’m generally. I’m always driven to make things that are made very well.

They will holdup to people using them. They will be strong enough, well-built enough, and they also last for a long, long, long time. Furniture should be well-made to serves its purpose, not only now but in the future, not disposable stuff, or so fragile or conceptual that is useless and breaks.

Jack: How do you like IKEA furnitures?

Cliff: Well, IKEA furniture is a certain kind of furniture, certain type of market, and they’ve done extremely well for their designs, and their marketing, and their branding. They’re huge company and they put their furniture everywhere, but aesthetically it’s not my thing.

It gives people a false impression of what workmanship costs because it’s made so inexpensive.

But it’s made mass-market scale, so good for them of being such successful company and continue to be. But the quality is not very high.

Most of what they are is more disposable furniture, but it’s not really disposable. It’s gonna be a waste for me.

Jack: Who shouldn’t be a furniture maker?

Cliff: Someone who’s clumsy, not very good with tools, or scared of tools. Shouldn’t be a furniture maker if you don’t like hard and dirty work because it’s hard work, and it’s very dirty, it can be dangerous. You have to be able to understand tools and machinery. If you’re not interesting that you shouldn’t do it. And also a good furniture maker has a good attention to detail, because it’s very detail-oriented. At the same time, if you are too attached to details, then you never get anything done. I know some woodworkers who don’t get a lot done. They stand in their own way because they are too meticulous. They are too controlling. So you have to have a balance of the attention to detail and focus on detail of quality, but you also have to be flexible to understand the reality of what is the woods gonna do, what your time constraints are, what your budget is, what tools you have to work with, and you have to design within parameters. You have to make the best of what you have. So if you are too caught up, and if you are too attached to details then it’s not gonna be good. Likely if someone who wants to make a lot, a lot of money, they shouldn’t be a furniture maker.

It’s more of a lifestyle business.

If you want to make a lot of money you should go to work at the financial sector, or be a lawyer.

To be a furniture maker is not a huge margin enterprise. It can work out like IKEA and other companies do well, and we do well for a furniture company after ten years. But it’s very, very hard to do well. It’s very, very hard to make a profit on any job that we, a lot of them we don’t.

So it’s very challenging.

who have made good businesses of their work.

You can only make so much money when you working for somebody. I could make better living for my family if I took the gamble and be the owner and the designer of the business.

Jack: Where do you get your inspiration from?

Cliff: All over the place. I think I get it from the material itself. Often it suggests what might be done with it. But as well I also get a lot of inspiration from early American furniture, and some early European furniture, Swedish furniture simple designs. I also inspire from the furnitures I grew up with. I was born in Alabama, the tradition there is parents leave furniture for their children. Our house is full of all different types of furnitures that was from the grandparents, from the uncle and this and that, so every piece of furniture has a story. They are well-made pieces. I still got a lot of inspiration from my memories of growing up around these stuff and looking at it and wondering how that

products as our primary business, and no longer doing the cabinetry work or service work. We started this business to make furniture, but quickly began to pay for it by doing cabinetry.

But now we are at the point we are really trying to make the shift, make the change to do just furniture, make-to-order furniture and products.

We want to stop doing the custom work and sell our own designs.

Jack: How do you like Chinese or Japanese furnitures?

Cliff: This is an old Chinese bed, I have already made one, based on this. I love this good design and now I made a table like this. I’m cooking an idea that make another piece like this. So I love that. I have several books here of Japanese furniture that I go back to and look at it for different inspiration and different joinery. I like them very much.

“We love our work and it’s a great gig if you can get it.”

Jack: What kind of style are you?

Cliff: I think our style is based in early American furniture designs, and early Swedish and Scandinavian furniture design, sort of Europeans older routes, mixed that with some Japanese craftsmanship and joinery, and modern and clean aesthetic.

Jack: Who or what makes you decided to be a furniture maker?

Cliff: I always work with my hands, physical work. As a kid, we had to do work around the house, had to do yard working, and work with tools. And as older, I start working in theaters, building sets, hanging lights, doing any kind of work in theater and I continued to do that. Then, I went to New York and I worked in theaters. To make money, I started to work in wood shops, and different design studio, and design shops like window display businesses. And then I came out here started to work with film, but in between film jobs I go in workshops and cabinetry shops. I was designing sets for film, and doing art department work for film. But it was frustrated because we do all tons of work but they barely shoot it or film it, and then we tear it down. But the furniture work is more gratifying to me to be able to take something from sketch and from lumbar, and build something very nice then give it to somebody that they can keep. You can finish a project, use your hand and make something, and put your skills to work, make something, give it to someone they gonna enjoy it and use it for years. So that was appealing to me to do something that seems like it last positive effect on people I was making it for. I like the examples of the furniture makers like Thomas Moser, Sam Maloof, and other wellknown furniture makers. George Nakashima

was made, proportions of those things. Personally I also get some inspiration from the comic Charles Adams, the Adams family. I think you find different types of writers, artists, painters so whatever that inspire you, that make you think, that do something for creativity.There’s some artist that do that to me.When I need that kind of inspiration I go read these books and look at these images like William Faulkner, Charles Adams. I like Edward Kelly as a painter, gives me ideas. I looked other artists and other inspiration.

Jack: Which tool is your favorite tool?

Cliff: It’s hard to say, probably my favorite tool is the little combination square, this little marking square, and a knife, marking knife. These little hand tools that I use to mark and engage things, layout different things where I’m gonna cut them. They are like all these little things that I always get with me all the time.

Jack: How much did you spend on your tools?

Cliff: We probably have hundreds thousand worth of tools. We have five people working here. If we have to replace everything, it’s easily be like a hundred thousand dollars. It depends if you working on your own and you can spend millions of dollars on tools. We are pretty small, we don’t have CNC equipment, computerized milling machines, we don’t have that. We have simple setup compared to some, and a pretty advanced setup compared to others. The guy over here has a bigger setup, more expensive machines, the guy over there is working in his garage.

Jack: Who is the furniture maker you wanted to be?

Cliff: Me. Jack: What do you want to achieve in the next five years?

Cliff: Oh, yeah, in the next five years, we would like to be in a position of making furniture and

Jack: If you’re not a furniture maker what would you do?

Cliff: I think I’d be a politician or writer, because I can just talk and talk.

Or a farmer, I grow stuff. I was growing something for a while till our neighbor said that we couldn’t. I tried to improve our front lawn and a put a vegetable garden there said our neighbor said no.

Jack: What is your advice to someone who is new to furniture making?

Cliff: My advice is to find somebody you want to work with, to find someone you like. If you ready to get a job, then find a shop that you like, and see if you can get a job there doing anything. And not be in a hurry, but rather sweep the floors and do whatever you need to help out because that’s how you learn. You don’t learn by being a big shot or trying to be a furniture maker all the sudden. You learn by helping all the other people out who know what they’re doing. And that you learn bit by bit, slowly. So I suggested somebody wants to be a furniture maker to find somebody they can work with, and take their time. Or if you are not very good at work, then go to libraries and then looks at books about different furniture styles. And see what you like, and then practice drawing them, practice drawing different ideas, read about wood joinery, read about wood, immerse yourself. But don’t be in a hurry. It’s a slow trade, takes a lot of time to make things. That’s the attitude I would like to see people coming here to work, patient, humble, and alert to what they are doing. We’ve had different apprentices from some design schools who are studying product design. They come in, and they are wonderful people, they are talented people, but they are played by ambition and impatience.

They wanna to be a big shot so fast that they don’t stay long enough to learn anything. In a few cases, they thought they already learned a lot, but it was like their feet weren’t really on the ground. You gotta have patience, you really want to get dirty and learn.

Jack: Do you have anything to add?

Jack: What will the future of the furnitures be in your opinion?

Cliff: Oh, that’s interesting. Because I think we are seeing a change from what we are seeing now is a reaction to the IKEAs of the world, and the modernization of furniture making, hyper mechanized to be made of by computers and CNC programming. Now we see a reaction away from that. It’s harder to find people who can make things. People are more and the more attached to technology, and detached from actually using your hands and making things.

And now there is research that people wanting to know how to work with their hands and make things. With the computer technology, there a lost of human touch in design, and lost in the aesthetic that everything looks bland. As you can see clearly some piece of furniture was designed on a computer. And there’s a big difference when you see something was designed by a person and made by a person. Now I think you’re seeing resurgence of people interested in knowing how to make furniture, and making it and designing it. And what you will see is the development of how you use the very powerful and productive machines. You’ll see them being used them for some specific purposes. And you will see more people being able to make nice furniture with more human valuable touch to it. It’s an exciting time that we will drop the fascination of technology. The technology is settling to its place. And the resurgence and the people reclaiming the benefit of learning how to make things.

Jack: Do you want your kid to be a furniture maker as well?

Cliff: No, I want them to do whatever they wanna do that makes them happy. If they do want to be furniture maker, I think that will be great. But I’m not attached to them doing this.

Cliff: The only thing I’d said is that we really have a good time at it. We have a lot of fun at this business. I mean this is hard, I know we have a lot of different challenges. We had three different disasters that happened today. But that is normal. There’s a lot of ups and downs and stresses. But we had a lot of fun. It’s a good time.

We love our work and it’s a great gig if you can get it.

Insights: I learned a lot more than I expected from this trip to Spencers’ shop. I emailed Leigh Spencer two weeks before this interview.

I was nervous about it because I’ve never conducted an interview before. When I was at the place, Cliff welcomed me in, and instead of interview Leigh, I interview Cliff simply because she was on the phone. Cliff was very friendly. The interview went extremely well. After that, he also showed me around at his work and I took a picture of them in their picture as a souvenir.

From this interview, I learned from a professional perspective, furniture making is a life style business. One has to have patience, willing to get dirty and sweaty, take his time to learn from his teacher bit by bit. To be in a hurry will not get one to be a good furniture maker any sooner. To have a good sense of aesthetic proportions, to know about kinds of wood and wood properties, to be familiar with machinery and tools are all essential to someone who wants to master furniture making. And most importantly, you have to love what you do.

“It’s harder to find people who can make things. People are more and the more attached to technology, and detached from actually using your hands and making things. And now there is research that people wanting to know how to work with their hands and make things. With the computer technology, there a lost of human touch in design, and lost in the aesthetic that everything looks bland. As you can clearly see some piece of furniture was designed on a computer. And there’s a big difference when you see something was designed by a person and made by a person. Now I think you’re seeing a resurgence of people interested in knowing how to make furniture, and making it and designing it.”

– Cliff Spencer INTERVIEW POSTER

How to Be a Good Furniture Maker?

Jack: First of all, can you introduce yourself a little bit?

Eric Lee, is a international business and management student at Pasadena City College. He enjoys great designs and art. He came from New York City a few years ago. Eric did an internship here in Downtown Los Angeles and he decided to stay. He likes the sunshine in California.

He loves museums, art show, and movies. He often went to Los Angeles library for some inspiration. He is 22 now, and he will graduate in Fall, 2015. By the time he graduates, he will have a debt of $60,000 in total for school loans. He did some freelance jobs, but these cannot help with his debts much. He is planning to have his first official job as soon as he graduates. He already had a few interviews with some companies he interested in. One of them is in Santa Monica. The was the one he wants to go to, because he loves the Santa Monica seaside view. But he cannot decide if he is going to move from Pasadena to Santa Monica because the rent there is more expensive. He is living with a roommate who is a Chase bank teller. Eric’s roommate bought a lot IKEA furniture when he moved in. Eric has some IKEA furniture, too. But he doesn’t think it is his long-term plan. He is enthusiastic with products and furniture. He loves Eams, West Elm is great, too. But now he cannot afford an $800 desk or a $500 chair. He has bills to pay.

My final project will help him with that. Eric can go to the shop on a weekend. He can learn and fix a piece of a chair which someone donated and take it home when it is fixed. He can enjoy the quality of a handmade furniture with very low cost. That is the power of this project.

DEMOGRAPHIC PERSONA

DEMOGRAPHIC PERSONA

THESIS

Recent college students in urban LA are most in debt. They cannot afford quality furniture, even though they have aesthetic taste. So there should be a non-profit organization that will show them the beauty of furniture making and the respect of craftsmanship.

HOW THE ORGANIZATION SHOULD WORK Wealthy People Donating their broken/spare quality furniture

Funiture Maker Volunteers Volunteering their time to teach the students how to fix the furniture for a basic charge Students Going to the shop, learning to fix the furniture and keep it for low cost

FINAL PROJECT DIRECTION

Organization Collecting and stocking the furniture Providing a place for volunteers to work

ORGANIZATION INTRODUCTION

Introducing...

LOGO

INTRODUCTION

Joinery appricieates the quality of handmade and respect the hardwork of these furniture makers. It promotes pursuing excellence and aesthetics.

ITC Officina Serif Std

Pantone 377 C

Typography Choice ITC Officina Serif Std ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz Lato ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

LOGO

Joinery is not a furniture store. It is a non-profit organization which accepts and collects broken or spare handmade furniture donations. Professional and experienced furniture makers and wood workers come to Joinery volunteered (with some pay). Students and furniture lovers come to Joinery to learn to repair or repolish the furnitures with a low cost and material fee. They can keep the piece which they have been worked on.

http://joineryfurniture.businesscatalyst.com/index.html

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Jack Xü Spring, 2015 Yee Chan Art of Research

Jack Xü 714-906-4543 tianjianjack@gmail.com

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