Of Interest to Arts & Crafts Fans

The other day I was e-mailing back and forth with aJapanese guitaristwho was kind enough to share some of his arrangements with my son. He mentioned how interesting it was that the internet has made it possible to make friends with people from different parts of the world and different walks of life-all that’s needed is a common interest. It reminded me of how fortunate I feel to be part of a growing community. I thought I would share some of the work and websites of people I’ve met online who share an interest in Arts & Crafts furniture. Some of these I’ve met in person and the rest I look forward to meeting. A few of these will be familiar to our readers, because they’ve written articles forPopular Woodworking.

This dining room set, based on the Greene & Greene originals in the Gamble house was made byDarrell Peart. Darrell Peart wrote an article for ourNovember 2007issue about an unusual table he found while researching his bookGreene & Greene: Design Elements for the Workshop. In addition to his writing and full-time furnituremaking, Darrell started a Yahoo! discussion group aboutGreene and Greenefurniture. This group is an amazing resource, with an extremely knowledgeable membership. Darrel has just moved to a new shop, and you can take a 360-degree tour of ithere.

I met David Mathias when he purchased a set of plans from mywebsite有一些问题关于成矿ding a bow arm Morris chair. I asked him to send some pictures when he was finished, and I was impressed with his work. David has had two articles published inPopular Woodworking,aGreene & Greene inspired chestin theApril 2008issue andGreene and Greene drawer constructionin theFebruary 2007issue. David maintains ablogand we’re in the planning stages of some future articles on Greene and Greene furniture that will appear later this year.

One of my favorite Arts & Crafts designers isHarvey Ellisand mybook on Ellis Inlay designsresulted in my acquaintance withRon Cossner. That’s Ron’s work in the picture above, and a visit to his website is well worth your time. Look over the furniture and don’t forget thefurniture polish. Ron works a stone’s throw away fromGustav Stickley’soriginal factory, and he is one of the unsung heroes in the revival of interest in Stickley’s work. He rescued a lot of important material and made sure it landed in safe hands.

This is a reproduction of one of the Harvey Ellis inlays, made byMitchell Andrus. Mitch is another accomplished furniture maker, and he was asked to reproduce thepiano caseatCraftsman Farmsin New Jersey. These intricate inlays were originally introduced in 1903, and original versions are a rare and precious commodity as these versions of Craftsman furniture never made it beyond the prototype and sample stage. The addition of the inlays to Craftsman furniture really adds to the beauty and elegance of the work.

Mitch has used these in his own work, and has recently made many of the original patterns available online. Theseinlaysare laser cut and preassembled and he also has matching stain stencils available for them. In the original Stickley pieces, the inlay work was done by an outside marquetry company and delivered to the Craftsman workshops in this same form. The inlay and background veneer are applied as a single piece of veneer, saving an incredible amount of time.

Guys like Darrell, David, Ron and Mitch are at the leading edge of Arts and Crafts reproduction work. My hat is off to them for successfully doing the work they do. Visit their sites and be inspired. I’ll try to share more posts like this, and of coursePopular Woodworkingwill continue to be the leader in presenting articles on building authentic Arts & Crafts furniture.

–Robert Lang