garrett hack

f you want proof that Garrett Hack is one of New Englands finest furnituremakers, you might start by looking through his garbage. I did. | See thatwood shaving? asks Hack as I pick out a gossamer-thin, curlicued, seven-inch

long, butternut wood shaving from the trash can. Its beautiful, isnt it? | BeforeI can answer, Hack is off and running, showing me how the shaving is a bit thick-

I72 NEW ENGLAND HOME MAY/JUNE 2006

with wood from trees grown on his vermont farm, garrett hack

crafts the finely detailed pieces that have earned him a reputation

as one of new englands finest furniture makers.

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ON A HIGHER PLANETEXT BY ROBERT KIENER | PORTRAIT BY WEBB CHAPPELL

er in the middle than at the edges, howits free from holes, how its a continu-ous, clean cut. All these characteristics,says Hack, are evidence of his attentionto detail.

I rarely sand my furniture, I hand-plane everything, he explains as heholds the shaving up to the light, like aphysician examining an x-ray. Sandingcan mar a woods surface. A hand planeis more subtle; it cuts with more clarity.

Details. They are very important toHack, who plies his craft in a twenty-four-by-thirty-six-foot, two-story brickand timber workshop he built adjacentto his house in Thetford Center, Ver-mont. With a table of his in the perma-nent collection of the Bennington Mu-seum, a client list that includes notablessuch as former New Hampshire Gover-nor John Sununu, and two best-sellingbooks to his credit, Hack is one of thebest knownand most successfulfurniture makers in the region.

Inspired by the artistry of tradition-al furniture, especially the elegant eighteenth-century Federal style, Hack

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74 NEW ENGLAND HOME MAY/JUNE 2006

Hacks work is traditionally inspired, yet contemporary. TOP LEFT: Demilune table of cherry, birds-eye maple, crotch birch, ebony and holly.TOP RIGHT: Details of demi-lune table. BOTTOM: Cherry serpentine chest.


crafts delicate, graceful contemporaryinterpretations.

His bow-front chests, serpentinetables, writing desks, dining tables,chairs and other pieces may take theircue from yesterdays craftsmen, but they are unmistakably the work of acontemporary master.

Garrett takes traditional designs andmakes them his own, explains Stowehomeowner Mary Connacher, who haseight of Hacks creations. When youbuy a piece of furniture from Garrettyoure really buying a work of art.

Hacks work is characterized by hisinterest in design as much as detail. Heputs as much thought and work into hisjoinery as he does his trademark inlayand decorative details.

A civil engineering and architecturegraduate of Princeton, Hack considersdesign his biggest challenge. I want to

Details and design hold equalimportance to Hack. TOP: Detail of table of curly birchand other woods. BOTTOM:The drawers are made ofbleached Cuban mahogany.

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build furniture that works well, like achair that is comfortable, while alsobeing elegant and playful, the furnituremaker says.

Hack describes his work as havingthree levels of design. At the firstlevel, you might see a piece of minefrom across the room and think, Thatform and color is appealing. I dontwant my work to overpower other fur-niture in the room. As you get closeryou start to see the details, the bevelededges or the inlay. Finally, at the thirdlevel you may feel a subtly curved sur-face or pull out one of my drawers andsee that the bottom has a nice bevel toit. Thats engineering.

When Hack discovered that one ofhis clients was losing her eyesight, hedecided to add a detail to the elegantinlaid table she had ordered. Using oneof his scores of hand planes (he wrotethe definitive guide about the tools,The Handplane Book), he planed barelyperceptible undulations into the top ofthe table.

Its like gentle waves on a sea, saysHack with a wide grin. She loves it.She walks by and puts her hand on itand feels it even if she cant see it.

Hack often builds surprises into hispieces. One day he brought me a side-

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1/3 page squareBaud Builders

1/3 page squareCountry Carpenters

Elegant, yes, but comfort-able, too. A steam-bent white-ash chair features a Danish cord seat.


board he had just finished and he hadthis huge smile on his face, remembersConnacher. He had built in five hiddendrawers and he challenged me to findthem. In the inlay of John Sununusdemilune table are a series of tiny dotsand dashes that spell out H-A-C-K.

After some thirty years as a furnituremaker, the fifty-three-year-old Hack isin the enviable position of having hiscustomers come to him. His reputationensures that theres a waiting list for thenext Garret Hack, which can costbuyers anywhere from $5,000 to$15,000, depending on the projects size

and complexity. He prefers to visit abuyer to see where the commissionedpiece will live and how it can blendinto its surroundings. The color, light,details and style of other furnishings areimportant to me, says Hack. I dontwant my work to clash or stand out tooprominently.

After consulting with a client hesends detailed drawings. After anychanges are discussed, he sends reviseddrawings and, often, a mockup of asection of the commissioned piece. Amockup he is about to send to a clientfor a dining table he is making involvesa foot-long piece of mahogany that in-cludes a sample of the tables two mapleand satinwood inlays, its beveled edgeand an under bevel. Drawings are fine,but theres no substitute for holding theactual mockup in your hand, he ex-plains. Its also a great way to educatethe client about how much work isgoing into their piece.

Hack loves a challenge. I like to rein-vent the wheel with each new project,he says. He looks at each new design asa test and thinks, What do I need totweak, instead of what do I need tocopy? How can I make this better? Howcan I play with this?

While Hacks legions of admirersknow him as a skilled furniture maker,

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1/3 page squareTimberpeg

1/3 page squarePan Zhai

i want to build furn-iture that works well,like a chair that iscomfortable while also being elegant andplayful.


writer and teacher (a British fan calledrecently and asked if he could visit hisworkshop, exclaiming Youre a bloodylegend!), not everyone knows he isalso a self-described one-horse farmer.Indeed, he bridles up Jazz, his two-year-old Belgian, and off we go on a rough-and-tumble cart ride through his twenty-four-acre woodlot.

Bumping along the winding trails,Hack points out the butternut, maple,birch, oak and other trees that he cuts, dries and fashions into some of the regions most elegant furniture.There are more than thirty varieties of furniture-quality woods here, hesays. And every board I get out of thesewoods is unique.

As Jazz struggles to pull the sturdywooden cart up a steep path, I look atall the wood around me and marvel thatsome of it may end up as the sturdyshelves, the graceful legs, or the ele-gant inlay on a finely crafted piece offurniture in someones home. All it willtake is the skilled craftsmanship, andattention to detail, of furniture masterGarrett Hack. NEH

To reach Garrett Hack, call (802) 785-4329 or e-mail him at [email protected].

EDITORS NOTE

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1/3 page squareGeorge Penniman

1/3 page squareAdaptations

Just twenty-three inches high,the shrine cabinet is made ofbirds-eye maple, beech, pear,mahogany, ebony and holly.

garrett hack

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