To learn woodworking, furniture designer Richard Massey apprenticed to both his father and his grandfather. “I’m a fourth-generation woodworker,” he says. “It’s in my blood. I learned a tremendous amount from my grandfather, and not just about woodworking, but also about life. He was a wonderful person.”
For metal artist Jeff Whitaker, his profession is a perfect match for his personality. “I’m an adrenaline junkie, who thrives on intense experiences,” he says. “Metalworking fascinates me because I’m actually melting metal using extreme temperatures. I’m able to coax around a liquid using intense heat, and there’s a lot going on when that happens, so I never get bored. I love to weld.”
While growing up in sunny San Diego, Calif., furnituremaker Lawrence Newman was frequently surrounded by wood, metal and tools. “My grandfather was a general contractor, so I spent a lot of time as a kid on his project sites,” he says. “I’d take things apart and try to get all the pieces back in order. Once I even took my grandfather’s chainsaw apart and put it back together, and it still worked.”
For furnituremaker Chris Cardy, the best part of designing furniture is creating something people like and use.
Most people sand the paint off salvaged wood. Artisan woodworker Michael Olfert, on the other hand, makes sure the paint stays on.
“There are a lot of connections between furniture and sculpture, such as the importance of the finish details and the need to be accurate,” Karma Lloyd and Bill Simmons create Organic Industrial style furniture, so called because of the combination of wood and metal.
