Deep Craft – Page 75 – Ethos of Making

California Classical

A few years ago I designed a pedestal to be used as either a table base or, when scaled down, to support a bench. I wanted to evoke the grace and solidity of classical Greek architecture, but based my contours and proportions on the native oak and acorn instead of the acanthus of the classical world. We made molds, cast a batch in concrete, and made cast concrete tops with inlaid, hand painted tile tops for a public park.

The process produced a few ‘rejects’ with which I have been experimenting over the summer. Combined with rough cut slabs from fallen trees on our property, they make wonderful tables; the smooth, soft contours of the white base contrasts strikingly with the rough sawn, sun-bleached wood.

I invented a system to use rough cut slabs to make a comfortable outdoor bench, which compliments the table, the slabs appearing to hover just above the ground. I plan to present this concept to Benziger Family Winery as the ‘Benziger Family Table’ they have recently commissioned me to design for outdoor use at the winery.

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Nocino

We’re making our first batch of nocino this year with walnuts from our own trees. Our friend Donald Fortescue harvested the green nuts when he was up for a visit in early July. We washed the nuts, quartered them and set them to soak in grain alcohol and sugar, stirring them every day or so for the past few months. I like having daily tasks that require no thinking and provide their own reward. In another month or so we’ll strain the liqueur, add some spices and bottle it for at least another six months.

I kept an eye on this batch while I worked in the shop, making a set of walnut Elder Chairs and matching table with a walnut slab and black acacia base for my friend Nick. I made an extra batch of the chairs, some of which are now available for sale on the Goods page. I will include a pint of our own nucino with the purchase of each chair, bottled in a hand blown container.

A set of walnut Elder Chairs and custom dining table for Nick
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Deep Craft Symposium

Here is the proof for a poster designed by John Bielenberg for our upcoming Deep Craft Symposium at Waterfall Arts.
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Luxury of the Essential

The L. L. Bean catalog was one of my favorite things to read as a kid growing up in sixties and seventies suburbia. The autumn issue was always the best. Before L. L. Bean became synonymous with blandly practical conservatism, the catalog was filled with specialized tools for specialized activities like fly-fishing, snow shoeing and canoeing. The images were sparse and the austere copy read with an implicit ‘down east’ dryness. Reading the catalog got me interested in cross-country skiing, strip planked canoes and sharpening knives. I would ask for field coats, chamois-lined khakis and camp moccasins for Christmas. I taught myself how to wax my own skis, split wood and catch trout on the many streams surrounding Philadephia’s Main Line.

L.L Bean was proletarian, supplying hunters, trappers, fishermen and woodsmen with quality gear to support their livelihood. Bean’s products offered the luxury of the essential and represented to me a trusty touchstone amidst the angst and uncertainty of the Vietnam War. I learned that if clothing has a distinct purpose, it can transcend fashion. Emphasis shifts to the aesthetics of functionality. In many ways, my pursuit of self-sufficiency – craft – making things- begins with a fashion sensibility. The tool shapes us as much as we shape the tool.
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Hard and Soft Influences

Seen as ‘skill in execution’, craft plays a role in shaping all spheres of influence. Deep Craft is this acknowledgment. I would love to build an archive of examples of Deep Craft within each of the tiers of government, business, design and art. In government, the Constitution comes to mind; in business, Google floats to the top; in design I think of Ralph Hotchkiss’ wheelchairs; in art, the work and perrenial influence of Marcel Duchamp.
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David McLaughlin

Ene and I were recently invited to be visiting artists at Waterfall Arts in Belfast, Maine. We will be facilitating a three day symposium on Deep Craft from November 13-16.

When I was visiting the site over the summer I had the good fortune to meet David McLaughlin, an artist and set designer who lives in a rambling 19th century cannery in nearby Liberty, Maine. My friend John Bielenberg introduced us and David took us both on a quick tour of his compound, which is absolutely chock full of things David has been collecting and archiving for over thirty years. I hope to spend more time with David in November and he has given me permission to photograph his collections, which I will feature on these pages. The sheer scale, range and aesthetic appeal of the objects defies description, but I took a photo of one of the wood stoves David has made with materials he salvaged .

At one point David, who studied theatre at Yale and is comically aware of his OCD tendencies said, “Once you start a collection and build a community, it would be wrong not to add to the community..”

Indeed, his vast collections are so lovingly tended and diverse within their similarities that they take on distinct personalities. David treats things as though they are conscious and belong to ‘families’. His rambling cannery is a museum of his urge to collect and salvage, a taxonomy of “formerly useful things”.
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Fractal Turning Patterns

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Sometimes curves on wood are best implied.
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