Working Wood

This is the fifth (and final) installment in our series on the Vancouver woodworkers featured in our current MOV Studio Exhibit, Working Wood, on view now until January 3, 2010. The last word goes to Ben Burnett of Zillion Design.

What inspired the Pivot Table?
My background is as a sculptor, and my sculptures are always interactive. My progression into furniture design was fostered by a fascination with interaction, and the fact that a piece of furniture can be the ultimate sculptural expression. A piece of furniture can remain fresh if you’re able to interact with it. In the way that you’d rearrange the furniture in the room to keep the room fresh, you can rearrange this piece.

How does Vancouver influence your work? 
Strongly. I think there’s a simplicity to the West Coast style of things. There’s a warm minimalism in our surroundings. I also use a lot of local wood species—Western Maple is the predominant wood used in the Pivot Table. I’m also influenced just being around other designers and seeing what’s out there. We definitely influence each other.

What are the advantages designing and building furniture here?
The natural surroundings are, of course, very inspirational. There’s such a strong design community here, and I think people are really starting to take notice of Vancouver for this.

And the disadvantages?
The cost of living and working here is pretty outrageous.

Where do you source your materials? 
A lot of the metal I use, as is the case with the Pivot Table, comes from various scrapyards around Vancouver. As for wood, most of the hardwoods have to come from retailers, as there just aren’t that many hardwood species native to this area. I do end up milling a fair amount of local logs that I source from arborist friends and tips from people in the right places.

Whose work do you follow, in Vancouver or elsewhere?
When I first started building furniture, I was really influenced by Arnt Arntzen, and his amazing use of salvaged materials. Now it’s all the people I’ve come to know who are designing and building furniture, including Arnt. I’m lucky enough to share a studio with Peter Pierobon, who’s truly a pioneer in the studio-furniture world. There’s also Seiji and Himali Kuwabara of In Element Designs, and of course all the guys in this show, who do amazing work. Outside of Vancouver, the people I follow are diverse, historical, and not all of them are furniture designers: Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobsen, Mark Newsom, and David Trubridge, Anish Kapoor and Janet Cardiff.

What are you working on now?
Beds, beds, and more beds. I’m also designing an armchair version of my Slide Dining Chair.

Image credit: Wendy D Photography (for Zillion Design)

This is the third installment in our series on the Vancouver
woodworkers featured in our current MOV Studio Exhibit, Working Wood, on view now until January 3, 2010. Now up: Derek Morton of Park Studio.

What inspired your coffee table?
The shape came from an airport hangar in Dallas, actually. I really like to try to keep the form simple so the material can speak for itself. I very rarely use lacquer, just all-natural materials and oils, and if I want something white, I use something in that colour. This table was designed in 2006 for my first Culture Crawl. It’s low-profile, with storage—a necessity for any good coffee table—and it’s a modular design so it can come with wheels, and customizable drawers. It can also be used as an entertainment unit.

How does Vancouver influence your work?
Mostly it’s the scenic qualities, nature and the urban environment. That urban and natural contrast influences my work a lot. With a piece like this you have beautiful pieces of wood contrasted with corian, a stark white man-made material. I’m a materials junkie.

Any challenges working here?
Good weather in the summer! I really don’t find too many. For me, the real challenge is making high design more affordable—there’s a major gap between Ikea and Inform [Interiors]. I’ve always focused on getting into that market, with the goal of making handmade design less expensive.

Image credit: Park Studio

Part one of a series of interviews with the woodworkers featured in Working Wood, an MOV Studio exhibit on view thru January 3, 2010. Here, Enrico Konig shares his insights on working in Vancouver and what inspired Hall Table (pictured left).

How does Vancouver influence your work?
People always talk about being influenced by landscapes. I’m not. I’m influenced just by being in an environment where people are making a lot of things. It’s important to be part of a larger community. People like Peter Pierobon and Arnt Arntzen have been a huge source of inspiration.

What are the challenges of working here?
Escalating real estate prices. Who knows if affordable shop space will be available if the City of Vancouver doesn’t step up. It’s definitely an issue with all artisans.

A lot of people are completely unaware that people make anything here in Vancouver. It’s an educational thing. Shows like IDSwest have been really important in showcasing local talent, but people are still surprised to see local design, and it’s been going on for a long time.

Making a living off of designing and building furniture is very hard. You never really make it. It’s a very inefficient way to make things. Materials are expensive, achieving that hand-made individuality takes a lot of time, and the pieces become very high-end and your market is severely limited because of that.

What inspired Hall Table?
I was taking part in a show in North Van and fooling around with these arches. I worked out a full-scale model-very last-minute, very rushed. It has since become one of my signature pieces. I can’t get away from arches.

Image credit: Goran Basaric