clint blowers furniture story

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photography by CLINT BLOWERS edited by EMILY GAGNE and JANINE WHITE WHO: David Cann | WHERE: Stockton, NJ | WHAT: Tractor stool made with vintage seat and steel base, around $650, 609-397-9095, moorlandstudios.com. | INSPIRATION: “A friend who owns an organic meat company and lives on a Bucks County farm brought me the original seats. She wanted me to design and make chairs for the kitchen table in her farmhouse.” | WORKS WITH: Brass, bronze and stainless steel | SIDE JOB: Conservation work, like spiffing up the William penn atop City Hall, through his firm, Moorland Studios. | VISIT: Moorland Studios’ open house (25 South Main Street, Stockton, New Jersey) on November 28th-30th, or by appointment. E P I E C S STATEMENT Design within our reach: beautiful, functional furniture from local studios 0 8 PhiladelPhia home winter 2009

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Clint Blowers Furniture Story

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Page 1: Clint Blowers Furniture Story

photography by clint blowers edited by emily gagne

and janine white

who: David Cann | where: Stockton, NJ | what: Tractor stool made with vintage seat and steel base, around

$650, 609-397-9095, moorlandstudios.com. | inspiration: “A friend who owns an organic meat company and

lives on a Bucks County farm brought me the original seats. She wanted me to design and make chairs for the kitchen

table in her farmhouse.” | works with: Brass, bronze and stainless steel | side job: Conservation work, like

spiffing up the William penn atop City Hall, through his firm, Moorland Studios. | Visit: Moorland Studios’ open

house (25 South Main Street, Stockton, New Jersey) on November 28th-30th, or by appointment.

EPIEC Sstatement

Design within our reach: beautiful, functional furniture

from local studios

08PhiladelPhia home winter 2009

Page 2: Clint Blowers Furniture Story

who: Mariah Wren | where: Northeast philadelphia | what: “Center City” chair, in cherry with hand-printed

linen-cotton “Leaves” upholstery, $1,995, 267-847-3803, wrenandcooper.com. | early start: “I grew up helping

my parents repair and renovate their early-1900s Mt. Airy home, and at 15, I built my first coffee table out of plywood.” | studied at: Rhode Island School of Design | this piece: “For me, this chair is all about the negative spaces

formed between the legs and the back of the cushion. I printed the fabric so that the leaves would flow around the back

and seat in a winding curve.” | FaVorite wood: Black walnut | see more at: The Second Annual Mt. Airy

Furniture Show, December 5th-7th at the Sedgwick Theatre, 7137 Germantown Avenue.

who: Michael Hurwitz | where: Old City | what: Alaskan yellow

cedar (salvaged from a city water

tower) and epoxy resin “Lattice Table”

for four, $40,000, 16 South 3rd Street

(studio hours by appointment), 215-

627-6092. | why Furniture design: “In high school, I saw an

exhibition of five studio furniture mak-

ers at the Renwick Gallery in Wash-

ington, D.C.: Wendell Castle, George

Nakashima, Wharton esherick, Sam

Maloof and Art Carpenter. It left me

weak in the knees.” | Full circle: Michael’s “Rocking Chaise” is now part

of the Renwick’s permanent collection. | this piece: “It started concep-

tually—to involve light transference in

a piece.” The table took about 2,000

hours to make. | philosophy: Michael did artist residencies in Kyoto

and Owani. “One thing that I liked

about Japanese sensibility is that it’s

rarely measured against a timeline. As

you are making something, you’re not

worried about when it’s going to be

done.” | just Finished: Two small

side tables for Glenn Close. | next: Hurwitz’s Marina Line will include

more affordable production pieces,

all made of recycled fabrics, bamboo

and local cherry, and priced from

$2,000 to $7,000.

PhilaDelPhia home winter 200928

Page 3: Clint Blowers Furniture Story

who: Josh Owen | where: Bella Vista | what: polyethylene “SOS” stool for Casamania, $192, unicahome.

com; joshowen.com. | First piece eVer sold: The Tone Knob lamp for Umbra was his first piece com-

missioned by a major manufacturer; Owen was 28 years

old. | FaVorite Furniture designer: Achille

Castiglioni | you’ll also Find him: In the class-

room, teaching in philadelphia University’s industrial

design program. | trÈs magniFique: The “SOS” stool

was just selected for the permanent design collection of

paris’s Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges pompi-

dou. | biggest Fan: “My six-year-old son has this stool

in his room. He says he likes it because his dad made it. And

because he can hang things off of the hooks.”

who: Jaime Salm, co-founder of MIO | where: Loft

District | what: Rubber stool with recycled-tire seat, $210,

446 North 12th Street, 215-925-9359, mioculture.com. | ap-proach to Furniture design: Accessible sustain-

ability | background: Grew up making junk sculptures,

and studied industrial design at the University of the Arts. | philosophy: “I believe there are no bad materials, just

bad applications for materials.” | brain Food: “I try to

get some sugar in my system often, in the form of chocolate

chip cookies, chocolate bars or whatever else I can get my

hands on.” | First success: A piece from Salm’s student

thesis made from recycled waste paper was bought by a

visual coordinator at Anthropologie. “She asked us to design a

signage system with the material. It was a sign we were on the

right track.” | FaVorite Furniture designers: The

eameses and Ingvar Kamprad | bicycling to work: “provides me with inspiration all day.”

who: Adam Rung | where: port Richmond | what: Windsor-style chair made of cherry, $850, 3211 Cedar Street

(showroom hours by appointment), 215-681-3354, adamrung.

com. | how he got started: Six-year apprenticeship

with parents, paul and Bonnie Rung, who build Shaker furni-

ture in Chambersburg. | how his designs haVe changed: “I’ve definitely gone from very Shaker-influenced

pieces to stuff that’s much more free-form and contemporary.” | inspiration For this piece: “Straight from my

childhood. I grew up sitting around a big, huge dining table

with Windsors around it. It’s fond memories of being with my

family at dinner.” | eco-Friendly: “I’ve used reclaimed

floor joists and beams to make cabinetry, bar tops, kitchen

counters.” | FaVorite piece: “A mid-century Danish-style

rocking chair I got at an auction. Or my red, plush Art Deco-

style lounge chair.”

who: Mira Nakashima | where: New Hope | what: english walnut “Concordia” chair, $4,000,

1847 Aquetong Road, New Hope, 215-862-2272, naka-

shimawoodworker.com. | Family ties: Daughter of

internationally acclaimed furniture artist and craftsman

George Nakashima. “I trained for 20 years as my father’s

assistant, starting with the shop drawings and finding

wood for clients, and eventually developing client projects

from start to finish.” | FaVorite wood: english oak

burl | studio soundtrack: Bach | FaVorite Furniture designer: “Does George Nakashima

count? If not, Harry Bertoia for eames.” | hidden tal-ents: plays the guitar and flute. | FaVorite piece: “The maple burl and walnut music stand my father made

for me as a wedding present in 1985. I use it to display pho-

tographs of my grandchildren.” | this piece: Designed

for her friends in the Concordia Chamber players to sit on

during performances. “I sat sketching during one of their

concerts, and came up with a basic design.”

58 winter 2009 Phillymaghome.com

Page 4: Clint Blowers Furniture Story

14 PhilaDelPhia home winter 2009

who: The Amuneal Manufacturing design team | where: Frankford | what: Dining chair with lacquer finish

over custom-printed upholstery right down to the feet, from $2,500, available through your architect or designer, 215-

535-3000, amuneal.com. | this piece: Working with an architect, clients can choose images for the chairs and get

color versions, too. | philosophy: Find unique uses for everyday materials like metal, wood, glass, acrylic and fabric. | who’s on the team: Welders, sculptors and industrial designers | what they usually do: Large-scale

custom work—sleek stairs, home bars—for architect-designed residences. | in public: Amuneal fabricated the en-

trance gates at the Lilly pulitzer shop in the plaza at King of prussia. | sidenote: The company started out

in 1965 producing magnetic shielding, and that’s still a third of their business.

who: Ric Allison | where: east Falls | what: Cherry “Gipetto” chair with brass pins, $7,200, 267-

258-8853, ricallisonstudios.com. | this piece: “I considered three positions in order to design a com-

fortable chair: sitting up and eating at the dining

room table, leaning back from the table, and lounging.

The chair is part of a dining room set I made on com-

mission for peter and Judy Leone’s Rittenhouse

Square home.” | approach: “I look at clients’

personalities—what kind of wine they like, their art

and collections. I photograph the space. I look around

for clues.” | why Furniture: “I get frustrated

at museums when you can’t touch the work. Furniture

is sculpture you can interact with.” | when he’s not making Furniture: He’s designing surf-

boards for his company, Rayskin Longboards.

PhilaDelPhia home winter 200968

Page 5: Clint Blowers Furniture Story

14 PhilaDelPhia home winter 2009

who: Matthias pliessnig | where: Old City | what: eleven-foot-long, bentwood tête-a-tête-style bench

called “providence,” $28,500, Wexler Gallery, 201 North 3rd Street, 215-923-7030, wexlergallery.com; matthias-

studio.com. | meant For: Comfortable face-to-face interaction. | how it was built: Steam-bending.

“The wood gets soft as a noodle in 10 to 15 minutes. I have 30 seconds to bend it into the position I want, and then

it starts to dry. I was inspired to do this after I spent a summer building a boat.” | numbers game: “provi-

dence” has 7,000 intersections of wood, with every piece custom-bent and fit together, and every curve different. | more like this: In the series, there are small benches, a large lounge chair and a Thonet-inspired café chair.

(Michael Thonet experimented with steam-bending wood in the mid-1800s.)

who: Leslie Webb | where: Germantown | what: Rift-

sawn white-oak stack of drawers,

$3,650, 215-704-2595, lewebb.com. | use it: In an entry hall. “I was

thinking it would be nice to have

personal drawers for keys, mail, news-

papers, umbrellas and all the other

everyday things we bring home with

us.” | inspiration For this piece: An edward Burtynsky print.

“I loved the texture and movement

within it, and I wanted to recreate

that.” | coVets: “A Chinese lounge

chair from my childhood. One day I

will convince my mother to part with

it.” | see more at: The phila-

delphia Museum of Art Craft Show,

November 13th-16th at the Conven-

tion Center, 1101 Arch Street.

PhilaDelPhia home winter 200988

Page 6: Clint Blowers Furniture Story

14 PhilaDelPhia home winter 2009

who: David Teague | where: Lambertville

| what: Dining room table with brass top and

zinc legs, $7,500, 609-397-6966, davidteaguedesign.

com; or find Teague-designed furniture at Twist,

1134 pine Street, 215-925-1242, twisthome.com. | his pieces: “My tables are usually made of

metals—copper, zinc, brass—and wood, and have the

aesthetic and warmth of an older piece.” | how he gets that look: Three- or four-day patina

process, acid wash, hammering. | inspiration: “Often something I’ve seen in antique pieces that I

carry at my gallery, America Antiques & Designs.” | production: “I work with other Bucks County

artists: iron workers, sheet metal workers and ma-

chinists. In my shop above the gallery, I do the wood

parts, assembly and patina.” | repurposing: “We bought knitting machines from a Germantown

factory where they made corsets and girdles. We

incorporated the beautiful cast-iron legs into tables.” | who buys his work: Julian Schnabel, Martha

Stewart co-CeO Robin Marino, Richard Gere, Marisa

Tomei, Smith & Wollensky.

For more photos of the furniture featured in

this story, go to phillymaghome.com.

who: T.R. Risk | where: Bryn Mawr | what: Dresser made of antique walnut, chestnut and cherry with antique

crystal knobs, $4,800, Origin & Ash, 876 West Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, 610-527-6627, originandash.com. | education: Self-taught | inspiration: “I met Ralph Lauren years ago when I was at the beginning of my

career. Ralph inspired me to follow my dreams and from that moment on, I’ve never allowed anything other than the

desire to create dictate what I do.” | FaVorite materials: Antique lumber, paired with “little surprises,” such as

antique bolts, strips of salvaged tin, cut nails. | work habits: “I start each new project with a clean-cut shave, a

new pair of Diesel jeans, some white Hanes t-shirts, and headbands to keep my hair back.” | proudest moment: “Seeing my son asleep in a bed I designed and created especially for him brings me the most happiness.”

19 winter 2009 Phillymaghome.com