Here's to Patrons

Custom furniture makers don't make a lot of money. Sure, there are a few out there that have done alright--there are the Sam Maloofs, Wendell Castles, and James Krenovs--but most makers labor away in relative obscurity and with a modicum of financial security. And it's a tough life, too: about the time experience takes a maker to their highest skill level and keenest eye, you wake up one morning and say to yourself man, my hands sure do hurt... Thing is, you gotta love doin' it, but that's really the way the arts should be anyway.

While i haven't been really pursuing the difficult path of spec gallery pieces (i.e., pieces that aren't commissioned, but rather built speculating that someone, somewhere will buy it), i have gotten the opportunity to make some pretty fun stuff from the ground up. I've been able to both pay the bills and also avoid having to take the random kitchen-cabinet-nail-gun-box route and the reason for this is simple: patronage. In my case, as in a lot of cases, this patronage comes from one person. Someone takes a liking to your style or ethic or what-have-you and they hire you to build multiple pieces. I have a friend that made a twenty-five year career out of a relationship with one couple. I don't know if i'll be so fortunate, but i do have someone who, over the last three years, has hired me to build six different pieces for them. Four of them are complete, two more are in the works.

Over the years i've been really lax at documenting my pieces. I have every intention in the world of getting quality photographs and then time crunches down on me and i find myself installing something before i ever get a good shot of it. After that i tell myself i'll go in later with a professional photographer and get a good shot of the pieces in situ. Because of expense or because i haven't figured out how to add more hours to a day, I don't ever get around to doing that, either.

But, finally, the other day i put my perfectionism aside, and while installing the latest piece, i walked around my patron's house and tried to get at least some decent pictures of the stuff i've made. It's tough to do that, though. I've got a good digital SLR camera, but a low quality and limited lens. Tight space and using natural light complicates matters further, not to mention how odd angles reek havoc on perspective--large things get wonky and unattractive. There's an enormous amount of effort and skill shooting an interior. Nonetheless, i just put all that aside and tried to get the best images i could. I played with perspective and lighting in photoshop and am at least willing to accept the results. Here are four of the shots. If you click the photos it'll take you to Flickr where i've written hasty descriptions of the pieces.