ONE OF A KIND
BY ERIN CULLERTON
The Beauty of Handmade
It is a simple truth the world over: we all love the beauty of handmade
objects. Whether it is the feel of a certain texture on our fingertips, the
expressiveness of a pattern, the luxurious quality of a material, or the
knowledge that they are only available in limited quantities, handmade
objects speak to us on an inexplicable level, moving us in ways both
profound and intangible.
Even with today’s confluence of mass produced, easily accessible design
objects and product lines, there is a craving to get back to basics, and a
thriving market for artisans who have dedicated themselves to perfecting
centuries’ old techniques. A new consciousness, in pace with the growing
enthusiasm for sustainability, has created a new economy in which
supporting domestic and local artists and products matters more than
ever. According to Paul J. Smith, former director of the American Craft
Museum and author of the 2001 book Objects for Use: Handmade by
Design, handmade objects are “tangible, sensual, and personal... they
suggest that craft and design are ultimately about the relationship
established between makers of things and the individuals who, by
selecting and using those things, complete the creative process.”
Burning Bush by Tuell + Reynolds in collaboration with The Wiseman Group.
Anything
handcrafted
is the
ultimate luxury.
PHOTOS:
Above: Table by Tuell + Reynolds
Right: Harvest Table by Ted Boerner
Omni Side Table, by Hellman-Chang
Custom Z Side Table by Hellman-Chang
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In an effort to uncover the essence of handmade, 3D spoke to more than
a dozen artisans and designers to understand their design philosophy and
the spirit behind their practice.
Randy Tuell of Tuell + Reynolds is a former architect specializing in metal
art and architectural solutions with partner Victoria Reynolds. For him,
when something is handmade it has a degree of embedded energy that can
never be found in an injection-molded, mass produced piece. “Handmade
pieces are imbued with a personal energy evident in their creation, and
celebrate not only the tiny flaws, but also what the designer was thinking
and feeling on a particular day,” says Tuell. The studio’s exquisitely
textured lighting, furniture, and sculptural works are transitional, classic,
and meant to last for generations. Pieces are developed with proportion in
mind, often referencing the Fibonacci series, and utilize materials as
varied as petrified wood and Silicon bronze. The Cloverdale-based studio
produces everything locally with a small team of artisans.
San Francisco-based designer Ted Boerner maintains intimate relationships with the craftspeople he works with and feels strongly about the
story behind every product, although he does not produce pieces locally.
Drawn by hand to perfect scale, his pieces delicately respond to the
human body. Although he works mostly with Japanese and Los Angelesbased artisans, he recently began working with the Amish in Pennsylvania.
The community is creating his Harvest and Block tables — solid pieces
that are irregular in shape and require a fine handmade finish. The quality
of craftsmanship, Boerner says, is on par with Japanese studios, both from
a material astuteness and quality perspective. And a few years ago, his
studio began a “Hands and Faces” campaign to reveal the story behind
each piece. Clients were encouraged to learn the name of the individual
who built the wood frame of a sofa or wrapped its cushions.
Bridget Teleo and Kelly Porter of Porter Teleo produce their bespoke wallpapers entirely by hand in their Kansas City studio, and they oversee every
step of the process, including producing their own inks and dyes. Taking
cues from nature rather than the latest market trends, their wallpapers are
in high demand because of the level of craft and fine detailing each
reflects. They produce both hand painted and hand printed lines that
utilize fine Japanese papers and intensely saturated inks. For Porter, it’s an
intuitive process much like painting, which reflects her fine art background, since each paper’s composition, design, and color blossoms
organically out of the creation process. Many of the techniques the duo
uses are hundreds of years old and, most importantly, Porter says, “There
is always something left behind in each design, a mark or the way it was
touched by some part of the hand.”
Marin-based fabric designer Michelle Pereira considers herself an artist
trapped in a designer’s profession. Specializing in surface design on
fabrics, she has three collections of ground cloths: Belgium linen and
cotton velvet lines for upholstery, and a silk-and-rayon-blend velvet line
suitable for drapery, bed clothes, throws, and pillows. Though her style is
nontraditional, she is inspired by Japanese Shibori, which originated in
8th century Japan, and the style of Arashi Shibori in particular. In this
process, cloth is wrapped diagonally around a pole, resulting in a
cylindrical patterning. Pereira appreciates the many ways the process
can be interpreted in the fabrics, which often mimic organic shapes and
patterns found in nature. By keeping all of her production local and
handmade, Pereira considers herself a revivalist of an esoteric art form, the
limited availability of which renders it luxurious.
Circuitous by Alicia D. Keshishian of ADK
Rug designer Alicia D. Keshishian of ADK Carpets has rug making in her
blood. Her grandfather was a rug trader, and after years of working in
various capacities within the design field, most recently as an art director
at Papyrus, Keshishian tired of the high minimums and lack of intimacy
with the final product. Now distinguished for her plush, contemporary
carpets, Keshishian works exclusively in the Tibetan style of rug making,
using Himalayan wools with long fibers that result in a soft and supple
texture. Designed to last for generations, her rugs are made with vegetable
and azo-free dyes, and are made by traditional weavers in Nepal, who can
produce four inches a day for a one-hundred-knot rug. Because she works
with artisans abroad, many of whom are Tibetan refugees, her rugs are
affiliated with GoodWeave, an organization that ensures no child labor is
used, among other vital criteria.
Brooklyn-based design duo Eric Chang and Daniel Hellman of HellmanChang began making furniture as a hobby in their parents’ garages. After
pursuing degrees in business and classical music, respectively, the desire to
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work with their hands again brought them full circle. Working primarily
with domestic, FSC-certified hardwoods, including American walnut,
they produce sophisticated forms through an organic process that results
in an intuitive piece shaped significantly during prototyping. For them,
their work is imbued with the spirit of its makers, since they learned how
to design furniture by building it. According to Hellman, “A lot of things
can be called homemade if they come off a machine and someone touches
it. When it comes to furniture, buying the wood from the lumberyard and
handpicking it is a different definition. High-end furniture is very hard to
produce, but having a human being behind the process is important.”
Signage Table by Brett Terpeluk
In San Francisco, several architects and designers are specializing in
custom, handmade pieces that complement their primary design
practices. Architect Larissa Sand of Sand Studios and South Park
Fabricators, well-known for Universal Café, utilizes her metal shop to
create jaw-dropping custom doors, cabinets, handles and more — none of
which would be possible without the freedom, experimentation, and
material empathy that the shop affords her design studio. Designer Loring
Sagan of Sagan Piechota Architecture–though responsible for large-scale
reconstruction projects, Linden Alley among them— is first and foremost
a ceramicist and furniture designer. Most recently he designed a line of
flatware for the restaurant Piccino, and his custom tables, made from
domestically felled trees, are highly sought after. Designer Brett Terpeluk
of Studio Terpeluk says there is an old Italian adage that the architect
should be able to design everything from the spoon to the city, and he is
fascinated with the idea of recycling history through industrial design.
With his wife Monica Viarengo, the designer and restaurateur behind
Farina recycled the original building’s signage to create tables, and imported
old Genovese sinks found in Italian salvage yards to produce the stacked
and assembled marble bar, reminiscent of a stone wall.
RESOURCES AND UPCOMING SHOWS
American Craft Council
www.craftcouncil.org
The American Craft Council and its Craft Magazine
promotes understanding and appreciation of contemporary
American craft.
Museum of Craft and Folk Art
www.mocfa.org
Founded in 1982, the Museum of Craft and Folk Art showcases
unique exhibitions on traditional and contemporary folk art
and craft from around the world.
San Francisco Museum of Craft & Design
www.sfmcd.com
Founded in 2004, this new museum exhibits contemporary
work in craft and design and encourages an understanding
of the process.
Maker’s Faire
www.makerfaire.com
With the theme of “Re-Make America,” this popular weekend
celebrates the convergence of the arts, crafts, engineering, food,
green design, music, science and technology.
Handmade Nation
www.handmadenationmovie.com
This movie by Faythe Levine documents the DIY movement
of art, craft and design and is currently touring the country.
Table by Loring Sagan
Whether the result of a fine arts background, design education, or the
sheer desire to work with their hands, the artisans profiled here remind us
of the importance of revitalizing traditional artistry and the quiet beauty
that well-crafted pieces bring to our lives. In a world where digital
technology and virtual reality are ubiquitous, one-of-a-kind objects allow
us to slow down and appreciate the finer things — and, as Randy Tuell
says, “Anything handcrafted is the ultimate luxury.”
Erin Cullerton is the Assistant Director of AIA San Francisco and the Center for
Architecture + Design and curator of the annual Architecture and the City festival.
Her writing on architecture and design has appeared in ARTnews, Metropolis, Surface
and Wired, among other publications. Erin currently sits on the advisory board of
The Architect’s Newspaper, California edition, and is the editor of Young Architects
Americas (Daab) and Contemporary Prefab Houses (Daab). She is currently working
on a third book by Mondadori Publishers due out this fall.
Forms by Erin McGuiness
More Designers to Watch
• Based in San Francisco and Los Angeles, Gary Hutton produces custom
made, bespoke pieces from bronze, stainless steel, and crystals.
I N C
• Berkeley-based ceramic artist Erin McGuiness, whose pieces are much
sought after, makes almost all of her one-of-a-kind pieces from locally
produced clay.
J A PA N E S E A N T I Q U E S
• Former architect Jonathan Browning’s beautiful and simple lighting
designs take inspiration from the French Industrial and Decorative Arts
era of the 1920s, ’30, and ’40s.
• Melina Raissnia’s rugs for Peace Industry are contemporary reflections
on the traditional felt rug making tradition of Iran.
• Santa Barbara-based Sally McQuillan of Raoul Textiles produces colorsaturated, handprinted fabrics that have a painterly effect and
intoxicating textural richness.
Specializing
in
Screen & Scroll
Paintings
since 1975
SFDC Showroom Resources
De Sousa Hughes
Ted Boerner, Tuell + Reynolds, Raoul Textiles,
Erin McGuiness, Jonathan Browning
Sloan Miyasato
Michelle Pereira, Alicia D. Keshishian
A. Rudin
Hellman-Chang
Kneedler I Fauchère
Porter Teleo
40 FILBERT AVENUE
SAUSALITO, CA 94965
415.332.0245
imarigallery.com
18th Century Scroll
64 1/ 8 " H x 15 1/ 2 " W overall
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