Individually designed and hand-crafted fine furniture and architectural detailing have represented important aspects of the contemporary furniture and design world for the past two decades. They have gained visibility in fine art and craft galleries and shows, museum exhibitions, and popular print. In the hands of educated contemporary artisans, traditional mediums of wood, metal, and glass may stand alone or be combined with plastics, clay, or natural, recycled materials to create unique, hand-crafted lighting fixtures, windows, doors, tables, sofas, chairs, beds, carved molding, cabinetry, or stair rails—all quite functional, yet powerful expressions of sculptural design, not to mention elegant, luxurious works of great originality.

The marketing of studio-crafted furniture is unique—word of mouth, small local businesses, and fine art galleries, as opposed to the furniture trade’s distribution networks, showrooms, and vast media advertising. Works are showcased and sold through craft or art galleries or shows, exhibited on the artist’s own Web site, commissioned by clients, or purchased directly from the maker’s studio.

In Central Texas, works are also displayed at studio open houses, such as Austin’s semi-annual East Austin Studio Tour (www.eastaustinstudiotour.com), or the bi-annual studio tour of Architectural Artisans Collaborative (AArC), a professional organization of 50+ individual Austin craft studios. AArC artisans, architects, and artists are dedicated to the renaissance of architectural craft in commercial buildings, homes, and public spaces (www.austinartisan.org).

Contemporary furniture makers and architectural craftsmen are either academically trained, having mastered design and construction through dedicated college art, design, woodworking, or metalsmithing programs, or they are self-taught. They direct their own continuing education through periodicals and books, workshops, experimentation, and collaboration with other artists.

Furniture and architectural artisans work out of their studios or homes, highlighting their independent professionalism and the hand-crafted, custom production of their work. They utilize a mix of hand tools and machinery, and occasionally assistants or specialists. Unlike the mainstream furniture manufacturers, who produce in volume, these artisans produce from their smaller studio spaces a relatively low number of unique, one-of-a-kind pieces, which sell for a range of prices.

Sustainable Hand-Crafted Furniture
Jennifer Chenoweth and Todd Campbell compose the creative, married partnership that is Fisterra Studio (www.fisterrastudio.com). They collaborate by mixing mediums and creating art, handmade fine furnishings, and sustainable designs using natural, recycled materials. Campbell is a meticulous metal craftsman of furniture, architectural details, and sculpture, and Chenoweth brings her knowledge of color, forms, and sustainable materials to help customers realize their visions in the form of sustainable building and design, architectural elements, painting, clay, upholstery, and concrete.

One such collaboration, Metal Chair, is shown on page 54. Campbell blends the traditions of blacksmithing and hand tools with modern metalworking techniques and power tools to create a complex webbing of three-inch forged steel bars power-hammered into elliptical donut shapes and welded together on a frame, forming a most elegant and comfortable chair. Natural jute webbing supports handmade, golden upholstered cushions stuffed with recycled milk cartons, finely shredded to create an unexpected softness.

Whimsical Furniture with “Goode” Design
Whimsical, romantic, and surreal describe the steel furniture of Austin designer Larry Goode (www.larrygoodeart.com). Although he has a successful career as a graphic designer, illustrator, and teacher, Goode says, “I never put aside my desire to create art and use my experience to continue working with my loves of painting, designing, creating, observing, and looking for wonder and beauty in all things complex and simple.”

In designing his furniture, Goode combines his professional design experience with “surrealism and the wonderment of all things whimsical and romantic.” People smile when they see Goode’s work, which seems to escape the reality of the outside world. Goode spends hours conceiving, sketching, and designing plans for his coffee tables and ergonomically comfortable chairs. Central Texas metal fabricator Clark Corbin produces the pieces. He cuts and shapes sheets of steel into decorative details of fanciful stars, planets, crowns, or three-dimensional forged vines and roses, and then welds them onto legs made of angle irons.

Contemporary furniture makers and architectural artisans draw inspiration from a variety of ideas and imagery—a knowledge of fine arts, art history, and traditional designs and processes, in addition to a knowledge of industrial design, popular culture, the effects of new materials and techniques, and personal motivations. They have an intellectual and personal investment in realizing their creative concept throughout the design and fabrication process. These artisans create unique, one-of-a-kind, handmade works of art for discerning buyers who seek pieces of originality and quality craftsmanship with a unique character that matches their own sensibilities.

For a list of galleries and studios offering furniture and architectural elements, go to Art by Type and select the category or click the following links: Furnishings and/or Architectural Elements.

By Anne Gilliam, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art history and has worked professionally in the arts and cultural industry for 14 years, in arts administration and policy, marketing and public relations, museums and galleries, fine arts consulting, and writing.
Photos courtesy of Larry Goode and Fisterra Studio.
© 2004 Art Lover’s Guide. Inc.