Stress Test

Do you trust your furniture? Jon Demonstrates the integrity of well executed joint work. 

Creating furniture that is both light in appearance and robust enough for daily use is a fine balance. It is always exciting to see a piece perform beyond anyone's expectations. This little end/night table is certainly ready for the rigours of holding daily reading material!

Prototype for Production

Hand One Design typically builds custom pieces for individual clients, however a local store recently expressed some interest in a bed side/end table I designed last year called "The Book Page". It is a simple but highly functional zig-zag of solid wood that keeps books and magazines. My favorite part is how you can toss a book onto the acute angle and it will keep your page (no more scrambling for bookmarks!). Right now we are in the process of refining the last few details and are looking forward to presenting the final product.

Paint like Pollock

After watching a short film on the work of Jackson Pollock, I was inspired to try my own abstract expressionist piece. I filled nitrile gloves (like latex gloves) with paint and charged them with compressed air until they exploded paint all over the canvas. I was pleased with the way the high pressure air finely atomized the paint in the background, and left large streaking drops in the foreground. It has a real sense of depth this way. I have a bit of a Bauhaus thing running through my head right now; hence the primary colors and black geometric shape. Doing a painting like this is far less calculating than custom furniture design, but gives the same hands on creative outlet. Very satisfying. 

Board Meeting

My wife, brother, sister in law and I snuck away to Tofino for the week to catch some waves. I was proud of my ladyfriend as she braved the cold water and got a few sweet rides in!

Being in nature is a big part of how I draw inspiration for designs, as well as hit the reset button. The distinct aesthetic of the westcoast really gets me excited about creating custom furniture in the Vancouver / Lower Mainland areas which are surrounded by such awe inspiring places.

My brother (Gary; who also happens to be a great graphic designer - click here) and I are laying plans to shape our own surfboards from wood. Hopefully we'll have something by the next Tofino trip!

Curve Appeal

Most projects I design are minimalist modern, however every now and again I love to bring out the French curves and design something with a little bit of that classic wavy elegance. There is a whole different skill-set in setting the visual weights and balances of multiple curves that run together. Much of it is done on the fly with the spoke shave (a blade you sculpt wood with) and heavily relies on artistic intuition/spontaneity. After the dust settles you are left with something much more expressive than the straight stuff. Doing this type of work gives me a renewed sense of tradition in the craft and keeps me well rounded.

This piece in particular will get a gently curved drawer face and a light white wash to give it a fresh up to date look.