Clint Struthers
Fine Furniture Maker
I have been designing and building fine furniture for over 25 years, with special interest in federal style period furniture and contemporary designs. I think the furniture from the Federal Period (1780 – 1820) is very exciting furniture. It is really the first truly American furniture style and from a craftsman’s point of view really requires a wide range of skill sets. Utilizing everything from precision construction, veneer and marquetry work to turning, carving and metal work, federal furniture covers it all. Honestly, I think most of my period furniture would have to be viewed as being influenced by the period rather than true reproductions because I often take liberties with motif or design to make the piece more compatible with our modern world.
For example, I designed and recently completed drawings for a ladies drop front writing desk that outwardly will appear to be a high end Federal Style desk but when the front is opened will reveal a cell phone charging station, a docking station for a lap-top computer, as well as full cabling for connecting printers, scanners and other peripheral equipment. Perhaps I will include a spot for a Kindle or iPad as well! Contemporary studio furniture is equally challenging and I particularly enjoy the tension between the need for functionality in a piece and the design and construction that when combined will allow a piece to become so much more than just a piece of furniture.
Unfortunately we live in a time of particle board furniture designed to last a few days longer than the warranty, or until the next furniture sale, whichever comes first! This type of furniture is so poorly designed that most is uncomfortable to sit on, doesn’t fit or has buried what little real wood actually is used so deeply under dyes, stains and tints as to completely hide the real beauty of the wood! Worse yet, we have achieved unprecedented capabilities to make vinyl and plastic look more like wood than the wood itself. How sad.
I like to think that through my work I am in some small way helping to reconnect people with the natural world around them. I actually draw my designs by hand on real paper with real pencils and of course a good eraser. I use wood, real wood from the forests of the world to build my furniture. Much of my work is done with hand tools; many of them have been making fine furniture in the hands of makers for far longer than I have been alive and hopefully they will find themselves in the hands of makers long after I am gone!
Wood is such a sensual material, almost beckoning one to drag a finger or two across a table top or to trace the curves of a leg or the arm of a chair. Grain patterns can be mesmerizing with no two pieces of wood being the same. The tremendous range of colors from the brilliant white of American Holly to the deep black of Gabon Ebony and all the rich colors in between – the design possibilities are really limitless!