a family adventure

The life of an independent artist is inherently creative.  I must always stay fresh and creative in my work.  Just as important is that I stay creative in how I get my work in front of people.  Enter: the Klassen Family Adventure.  We are driving across the country for the opportunity to show my furniture at the Smithsonian Museum's Craft Show.  A 6,000 mile road trip with a 2-year-old, a 5-year-old and a 6-months-pregnant wife, from Washington state to Washington, DC with a trailer full of work I've spent many months creating.  Our trip is sure to include snow & sunshine, motel rooms & mountain ranges, chocolate bars & cherry blossoms.  It's a risk and a privilege to live life like this.  However it all plays out, we'll be together as a family, living life across the country, seeing new things and making memories.  We may not know where we will rest our heads each night or even if the work part turns out a success.  But we'll be having a family adventure together, and it's hard to ask for more than that.

The last piece of the puzzle

Finishing up one last piece for my trip to the Smithsonian Craft Show.  We leave Sunday morning.  My that seems soon!  Kind of waited until the 11th hour on this table - the newest piece in my River Collection.  Really excited about this one! 

Longhorn Dining Table

I remember the day this tree was milled 2 years ago.  It was a giant walnut tree in Everson, WA that had outgrown someone's yard.  It was rare because of it's size and rich, swirling colors, and it required a special sawmill to be constructed around the log in order to mill it into slabs.  

This was one of those times that it felt like a privilege to get to work with a piece of wood.  I'm pretty excited about the new design I created for it.  The top is a single 9' slab and sits atop legs that take their inspiration from a Longhorn and feature an architectural blend of raw steel and wood.  Oh, and I thought the crack in the top was really great, so I highlighted it with steel butterfly keys.  I love how it turned out. 

Two weeks until the big trip!

in the works: a new river table

Here's a new table I'm working on for the Smithsonian show.  

I found this great piece of maple with a squirrely live edge and I was determined to make a large leaning wall mirror from this beautiful slab.

But when I cut the wood and rearranged the parts together I was intrigued by how the two live edges related to each other.  They were beautiful!  And very reminiscent of a river, snaking its way through a valley.  

I was compelled to ditch the mirror idea, and decided to go with the river idea, and make a tall console table.  Here I am  using tracing paper as the first step in creating a template for the glass.  I am REALLY excited to see this table come to life!

standing shelf

Sustainably-harvested Western Maple, acrylic, steel

a new chair

A chair is a very difficult object to design.  A skyscraper is almost easier.  - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (famous architect/designer)

Chairs must be durable.  Remember when you were a kid and leaned back on your chair at the dinner table?  The back leg of your chair was silently crying for mercy.

Chairs must be beautiful from every view.  It's one of the few pieces of furniture that gets seen from every possible angle.  It's pushed into the table, it's pulled out, it's brought out into the living room.  It must have a lot of reasons you find it nice to look at.

Chairs must be comfortable.  If you're bottom and your back aren't happy, you're not happy.

I've made a number of chairs.  Here's the most recent, and the first combining steel with wood.