Disposability

Speaking about the current state of humanity and what is necessary to reengage our global creativity and regain harmony with our planet, George Nakashima said the following:

“It is a difficult movement, a pioneering movement, similar in a way to that experienced by the early English settlers. The movement involves not only beating back the wilderness but also beating back the soulless urban jungles throughout the world.” 

- George Nakashima

Nakashima sees the 20th century as an era devoid of great humanity. We have conquered the planet, we have developed incredible technology, and we have lost touch  of the simple 

values and the sense of community that are truly important.

In our modern society we have embraced the disposable-permanent object. Disposable in the sense that the objects are created for convenience, created to be used once or twice and then thrown away. Permanent in the sense that they will never decay, that in 10 000 years they will still live on perfectly preserved in the garbage dump. As a society we have created a sense of quality defined by permanence that is in direct contradiction to the way the rest of the natural world works. A tree can live for thousands of years, with some standing now that have witnessed the rise of modern man from the early days of the Greeks. When its grand life is finally finished the tree then falls to the ground. It decays and releases all the energy it stored up over its life, it provides a foothold for new trees and nutrients for these new lives to be nourished by. 

So how do we design for decay? Is the biodegradable cup I get at the gelato store enough? We’ve been staring at ourselves in the mirror for the past hundred years admiring our drive and ingenuity. It now seems that we’re finally starting to peek around at the world again and are seeing how great we actually are.

MB

Milling

My friend Mohrgan recently had a maple tree removed from his back yard and decided to get it milled into slabs. The portable bandsaw mill pulled up to his house the other day and we started cutting up his tree on a windy, cold October day. Well Frank, of Franks Planks, actually did all the cutting, but we helped load and push and roll the logs and finished lumber around his front yard. It took about a day to get everything cut and he got a lot of great wood.

For helping him out he's going to give me 4 slabs that we cut from the crotch of the tree. They should provide for some opportunity for incredible results.

I've also got my eye on some more of his large slabs that would be perfect for desks, benches or kitchen tables. I'm working on sketching up some ideas for the y-shaped slabs with a nod to Nakashima's work.

The wood is being sent to the kiln and should be ready in about a month...I can't wait.

MB

Nakashima

I just came across George Nakashima's work for the first time the other day. Do you know how it feels to have an idea that you just can't find the right words to express? Then the next day you're walking along and a song comes on that says exactly what you want to say, but only a thousand times better than you could have ever said it. That's how I felt when I saw his furniture.

Simple, elegant, and honest. The raw beauty of the wood is magnified by the presentation, but at the same time functionality is dominant. Japanese joinery is an art in itself, and it's these techniques that make Nakashima's work so spectacular.

His work is a reminder of the beauty of simplicity and the natural world. It also acknowledges uniqueness and individuality.

I've ordered one of his books, The Soul of a Tree, and I'm looking forward to learning more about this great builder.

MB

That Wood is Rotten!

I recently completed a table that featured spalted maple, a very unique and beautiful wood. Spalting is basically a process that certain woods undergo while they rot! Who would have thought that letting something decay could actually make it more beautiful?

Insects and fungi are the two main mechanisms of decay in wood, with fungal decay causing the most deterioration. These parasitic fungi feed off carbohydrates and leave behind waste products that can stain and colour the wood. A certain kind of "white rot" is responsible for the spalted maple you see above, leaving behind black pigments as waste. The lines indicate zones of decay where the wood has been attacked by the rot.

If left in the right conditions for the right amount of time you can get some incredible results, but if left too long the wood will completely decay and turn to dust. To stop the rot is actually fairly easy, you just need to dry the wood below 20% moisture content and since most finished lumber is dried to 8-10% you don't need to worry about the rot once it has been properly dried.

So think about using some rotten wood next time, the results can be stunning! 

MB

Innovation (ie doing something NEW)

It's probably a cliche to say, but it seems that innovation isn't that easy afterall. 

A chair is a fairly simple object. It's not a space shuttle, it's not a quantum computer, it's not a carbon nano-tube; it's just a chair. It's been rebuilt, modified, extended, reworked, cut, carved, bent, and molded...and after all of that it's still just a chair. 

Stephen Hogbin is an artist/woodworker with incredible skill and, more importantly, an incredible ability to innovate. In the 70's he decided that he wanted to try turning really big pieces of wood (like 76" in diameter big) because he believed that taking slices of these massive turnings would reveal cross sections of tremendous beauty.  At the time there was no way to turn a 7' piece of wood on a lathe, but with his father in law's help Hogbin pieced together a variable speed lathe to realize his vision using the differential and rear axle from a truck. 

Hogbin's work is valuable because it's both beautiful and inspirational. It may seem simple, but what Hogbin did in creating his truck axle lathe is what innovation requires: a vision and the tools required to realize that vision. If the tools don't exist you just have to go out there and create them yourself...

Here's a link to his website where you check out some of his work:

http://www.makersgallery.com/hogbin/

I know it's just a chair, but to me it's more than that. To me it's an example of what it takes to create something that is truly NEW...and you know what, to me innovation is a beautiful thing.

MB