This event, moderated by Josh Dorfman, author of The Lazy Environmentalist, was part of the Museum of Arts & Design’s Sustainability in Design series, and featured four furniture designers who use reclaimed wood in their work. Bill Hilgendorf (Uhuru Design), Samuel Moyer (Samuel Moyer Furniture), Brandan Phillips (SMC Furnishings), and Palo Samko (Palo Samko) all use reclaimed wood as an essential element of their designs. A common thread being their desire to make something beautiful while getting as much use from of found materials as physically possible. They each have a history (family or circumstances) that led them to find beauty through frugality. For these four designers, sustainability isn’t a trend or a new way of how they design their pieces, it is inherent in their functional aesthetic. Sourcing locally by using found pieces, and saving every material they can, is more than simply reducing waste for a cleaner environment; it is an expression of beauty and joy through furniture.
Hilgendorf, who works in the New York City area, focuses his designs around three material types: off-cuts or scrap-cuts of wood, salvaged materials, and unwanted or discarded items. He finds excitement in the opportunity for a good “dumpster-dive” and, like the other three, has a habit of running out of storage space to keep all his found materials until they can be incorporated into a final piece. Focusing on local materials, Hilgendorf regularly brings 96-gallon containers to local shops in Brooklyn, where the shops are asked to put their off-cuts or scrape-cuts of wood. He later picks up the containers and uses elements of what is collected within his pieces. Politically, economically and environmentally, he views the extra labor necessary to turn reclaimed wood into a new piece as less than the resources necessary to make something from virgin wood – essentially upcycling. Hilgendorf believes that upcycling lessens his environmental footprint and that is important to Uhuru Design.
Moyer, originally from Pennsylvania and working in California, views himself as a ‘junk man’s grandson’, and often refers to his grandfather, Joseph (who was a car parts junk yard man), as an inspiration for much of his work. Recycling was lucrative for a junk yard, since they would get paid to acquire cars and paid to have parts taken away. Similarly, using reclaimed wood is spiritually, aesthetically, and monetarily lucrative for Moyer. He tries to leave as many natural irregularities in his final pieces, believing that the unbalanced aesthetic gives each piece its own distinct character. In doing so, Moyer allows the materials to carry traces of previous owners as part of the beauty of each final piece.
Phillips, originally from Alabama (a coal miner’s son), then Chicago, and now residing in the Finger Lakes region of New York, grew up knowing that labor is free and everything else costs money. He talks happily about one day, coming upon a dumpster full of pine, and realizing it was cheaper for someone to throw it out rather than use it or sell it. Much of his “find” ended up as stools, with the wood portion left “as-is”, allowing the natural piece be the center of attention; an approach not so common in modern furniture design. Phillips also spoke about the challenge of determining what to do with so many leftover scraps, repeatedly finding himself unable to store more, yet unwilling to discard any of his great finds. His solution is simply to get the most out of what he finds by creating more pieces from his collection. Phillips has even worked to minimize the amount of sawdust he creates so that he yields a minimum of material waste, and like the others, he focuses heavily on local sourcing for materials and usually reclaimed pieces.
Samko, originally from Slovakia and now living in Brooklyn, is the son and grandson of wood workers. Using hand tools and making his own hardware for his pieces, Samko uses all found materials from Brooklyn. If dragging a large piece of wood from Rockaway Beach to his truck and turning it into a loveseat, or using plexiglass as the legs of a desk he designed, he’s always on the lookout for discarded materials. Samko views his work as taking something old or found (scrap or found materials), and turning it into something “new” that someone wants to touch, use, and enjoy. He too makes a point to use every part of found material in a piece of work, and has the common storage problem. Samko often uses end-cuts or pieces of walnut that show heavy grain or knots, to turn them into pieces such as a modern style credenza. Each of his pieces features straightforward hand-crafted hardware, allowing the wood to take center-stage.
By Michele Perez
o2nyc.org)