Construction Coasters
Check out this fun sculpture my friend Corbin made with my new Construction Coasters. They are simple square coasters with half lap notches cut out of the sides so you can link them together in many different creative formations. Think of them like Legos with a purpose.
I chose to show you this form out of the many sculptures you can create becasue it also has a function. It is perfect for displaying your favorate spirits such as vodka, scotch or even wine like this bottle of Sofia Riesling by Francis Coppola.
Witness the utilitarian function of a single coaster as it protects the table from rings created by sweating glasses. If you have grown up in the era of use and discard furniture you might not understand the purpose of a coaster. In our modern times you can buy a cheap table abuse it, toss it in a land fill and purchase another table of the same descent cheap. But virtually all finishes that you might find on a table are susceptible to rings from sweating glasses. Therefore, if you have a nice table that you want to last for years or you want to take a green stance and stop filling up landfills with ruined furniture my Construction Coasters are perfect for you! Plus playing with coasters is a great way to get your guest to use coasters with out nagging them. So have fun, create, and protect the things you love!
LA Box Collective’s THE DUNNAGE SHOW at Inheritance
The LA Box Collective’s (BoxCo) will present their first collaborative body of work, on November 3, 2011, at Inheritance in Los Angeles, CA.
Using their partnered acquisition of 12 tons of “dunnage” and decades of combined experience as artisan woodworkers, BoxCo will take a creative look at lumber headed for the landfill and give it new life, purpose and function.
What is “dunnage”? Before 80% of the earth’s old growth forest had been cleared, entire barns were constructed in, now coveted, walnut. Dunnage, the square pieces of wood used as support and padding in building, shipping and trucking, were made of high quality wood species, like old growth oaks and elm. These days, dunnage is made from plastic, and most of the prior iterations were discarded or used for firewood. Discovered in July 2009, via a Craig’s List posting from another dedicated re claimer, the mixed hardwood dunnage, stored for years in neat, orderly stacks of 4 inch by 5 inch by 4 foot pieces of wood will be used primarily, if not exclusively, to craft all original and unique pieces.
Work in progress to be shown includes the “Cloud Pony” bench by Andrew Riiska (www.riiskadesign.com), stools by Casey Dzierlenga a Shinto bench by Samuel Moyer, (www.samuelmoyerfurniture.com), a children’s eating table and chairs by Cliff Spencer, a woven screen by David Johnson (www.sidecarfurniture.com) as well as new work by William Stranger (www.strangerfurniture.com) and Robert Apodaca (www.fifthfloor.com
About LA Box Collective
LA Box Collective is a group of Los Angeles-based, professional furniture designer-makers, committed to environmentally-conscious design and production. While working in various modern styles, the individual furniture makers that make up BoxCo are devoted to fine craftsmanship, sound design, and the use of long-lasting, reclaimed, and other sustainable materials. The group has come together to showcase what Los Angeles has to offer in the way of beautiful design, local craftsmanship and sustainability. Sustainability is not a new idea, but the imperative to live a sustainable life is. “We are radically rewinding our approach to a time when value was placed on fine craftsmanship, long-lasting materials and sound design. Looking forward, we value the precious materials that our society wastes.” – from L.A. Box Collective mission statement
Why the “box” collective? Every piece of furniture, from a cabinet to a chair, is essentially a box. It has a bottom, sides and a top. Though a box appears to be a simple woodworking endeavour, it embodies all the skills a woodworker must master to make it right.
The makers of LA Box Collective can be viewed as a group at laboxcollective.com
About Inheritance
Dan Zelen opened the store Zelen in 2004. He transformed a crumbling former loft and storeroom into a unique gift and design shop. Zelen carried a mixture of modern and vintage furniture, accessories, artifacts, and curiosities. Michael William Andrews took over the store in 2008 and has continued Dans’ eclectic design asthetic and detailed curation. Recently Michael changed the name to Inheritance.
Inheritance 8055 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048, P.323.658.6756, F.888.660.3750, www.inheritanceshop.com
Photos will be available after the event upon request.
Contact: Leigh Spencer 310.823.0112 office@cliffspencer.net
God Save the Queen Bee Hive
A collaboration with Walker and Will Rollins of 100xbtr.
Sorry, either Adobe flash is not installed or you do not have it enabled
This is a quick animation of how this bee hive stacks and unstacks.
A carving of a bee on honey comb is milled into one panel of each four sided cube that make this Japanese style bee hive called a “Multi Tiered Box”
Five of these cubes stack up to make the body of the hive.
There is also a lid and on top of the lid is the roof.
The lid is tied on with a hemp rope that goes through a heavy cement base. The lid and the cement base sandwich the five tiers of the hive, the grand entrance way and the slanted landing pad together anchoring the whole hive solidly to the earth. The roof fits on top like a cap shielding the hive from sun and rain.
How did I get “roped” into making this Bee Hive? Its a long story. (Read more…)
Cloud Pony Bench
This bench is inspired by puffy down coats, rubber rafts, a bugs view of corduroy and the Michelin Man’s belly.
Finished the bottom looks cloud like and compared to the 14′ Dragon Table, of which this shares similar traits, this modest 30″L x 19″W x 19″H bench looks like a pony.
Naturally, I designed it to appear puffy and light because its future home is the entrance way of a high rise apartment in New York City. Since it will live so far off the ground I thought having a cloud belly would help it make other cloud friends.
It is made from reclaimed spalted oak dunnage.
Dunnage
Dunnage is a term with a variety or related meanings. Typically dunnage is inexpensive or waste material used to protect and load securing cargo during transportation. Dunnage also refers to material used to support loads and prop tools and materials up off the ground such as jacks, pipes, and supports for air conditioning and other equipment above the roof of a building.
Spalting
Spalting is any form of wood coloration caused by fungi. Although primarily found in dead trees, spalting can also occur under stressed tree conditions or even in living trees. Although spalting can cause weight loss and strength loss in the wood, the unique coloration and patterns of spalted wood are sought after bywoodworkers.[1]
Although dunnage is milled straight it bends warps and cracks as it dries because it is cut from the parts of the tree like the crotch that have swirly knotted unstable grain. It is not very good to make furniture with, at first, because the stress with in the drying wood just tears the finished piece apart. However, if you are lucky enough to procure dunnage that has dried for fifty or so years as it was being used in the aid of transportating goods across America’s western states then you have a stable wood with unusually beautiful grain.
That’s what I got thanks to my friend Sam Moyer who dragged me from Los Angeles into Valley last year to look at a giant 8′ Oliver Joiner he ended up purchasing from a man named Bud. Sam only communicated with Bud on the internet and had never met him in person. After driving an hour into the Valley we met Bud who turned out to be a giant, just like Sam, so it only seemed naturally that all of his wood working equiptment was industrial and huge as well. He was selling everything so he could move to Florida for retirement. While looking through his stockpile of cool old machines we notice a wall that was tiled with 4″ x 6″ oak end grain blocks from floor to ceiling. When Sam asked Bud about the wall he explained that it wasn’t end grain tile. It was 5′ long stacked oak dunnage he salvaged over ten years ago. All we were seeing was the ends of the boards.
Bud originally salvaged the wood to make Kinaras, 7 branched candelabra used in the celebration of Kwanzaa. He showed us a finely crafted example he made of the dunnage oak that had the same tiered design as the one in this picture except bigger.
Kinara
Not only had the wood thoroughly dried while being used as dunnage but it was also stacked in Bud’s dry garage in California’s San Fernando Valley which can reaches three digit temperatures in the summer. Essentially it was cured in a Solar Kiln for the last ten years so it is perfectly dry and stable. Sam and Bud negotiated a very reasonable price and we split the batch of dunnage up with other members of the LA Box Collective. In September the LA Box Collective is planning a “Dunnage Show,” at the Hi Lite gallery in Downtown LA where members will draw out the beauty in this unique batch of material by creating original furniture from it.
To further stabilize the gnarly old cracks in the wood I hand chiseled a total of 11 of my wood stitches into the bench. On the bottom of the table I left this wood stitch proud so it can be detected by touch.
I was lucky enough to catch Andrea Lee Mitchell, the photographer ex pat who now lives in Spain, while she was on a recent jaunt to Los Angeles. Congratulations to Andrea on her “non married” domestic partnership to a Spaniard of the opposite sex. They now live together on an island off the coast of spain where Andrea is brushing up on her spanish and of corse documenting her new life with photographs. She named this shot “Turtle_0n_back.” Thanks for the beautiful photographs Andrea!
This is corduroy seen through a bugs eye.
I want to thank ”Math Man” Matheos Asfaw who was kind enough to render the bottom of this table in 3d for me. I also want to thank Kristy Velasco and her sweet old man pit bull named Sage who are responsible for the beautiful hand/paw rubbed 100% pure Tung oil finish that gives this piece a beautiful shine and a soft touch. Please don’t call the Humane Society on me. Sage didn’t really work on the table but he did help by holding down some blankets right out side the shop as Kristy sanded and finished the bench. I also want to thank Zack Main who also logged some hard earned hours sanding mill marks out of the bottom of the bench. Thank You Matheos, Kristy and Zack! Plus, I have to thank Ford&Ching for choosing the Cloud Pony to be displayed at their Dwell on Design 2011 after party. Finally, I have to thank Will Rollins of of 100xbetter who expertly milled the bottom of Cloud Pony with his CNC mill in trade for me helping his wife, Walker, make a Japanese style bee hive. More on that later:)
You got good taste
This is the February 2011 cover of Details Magazine. Although the resemblance is uncanny its not me on the cover it is Andrew Garfield from the movie “The Social Network”.
Inside you can find my Inky and Pac Man tables which are on display in LA’s China Town. These little guys just keep hopping around town. First they were in Ford&Ching then they chased each other down the street to the Fifth Floor Gallery and now they snuck through the side screen into Details Magazine all the while gobbling up little power dots. Also appearing is Tanya Aguiniga’s Birch bark bench. I like this piece. Tanya went North and learned the art of harvesting Birch bark, without killing the tree, from indigenous Alaskans who traditionaly used the material to make Birch bark canoes. Fifth Floor Gallery founder, architect and fellow LA Box Collective member Robert Apodaca also shows Tanya’s work. Not only is Robert a great designer, craftsman and organ doner but his keen eye for details makes him a natural for finding new design and curating fun shows. Thanks Robert this Cramps song is for you!
World’s Tallest Table
This is the “Giant Squid” Bunk Bed Side Table. It is 75 inches tall so it is nice to put a book, glass of water or your glasses on when you are sleeping on your top bunk.
Shhh the giant squid is sleeping. Luckily you won’t have to because the Bunk Bed Side Table is the perfect height for a reading lamp and a plant with one pillow leaf, hanging down the side, created by Artist and Master Seamstress Gillian Haratani.
This is a top view of the worlds tallest table. Notice the spring loaded walnut fun button that you can push in and out. It doesn’t really have any function.
The Giant Squid is made of 53 recycled Douglas Fir legs that are weighted on the bottom with hidden steel rods and features adjustable rubber feet so you can level it to any floor. The legs plunge through the top of the table bisecting hidden splines with half lap joints so although it is wiggly it is strong. The Douglas Fir top and legs are made from wood I recycled from a house in Hollywood with fellow LA Box Collective member Samuel Moyer. His friend Noah Walker is the Architect renovating the house who graciously donated the wood to Sam and I. Thank you Sam and Noah! While I am thanking people I have to thank Magenta Pinuethai for donating her time and hard work to help me sand and finish this piece. With 53 75″ tall legs you can just imagine how difficult this was and understand why I am not sure if I should thank or apologize to Magenta:) Thanks Magenta!
Celeb Life Magazine
This is the cover of the Fall 2010 Celeb Life Magazine featuring the beautiful Khloe Kardashian. Never in my life did I dream I would share the glossy pages with such a glorious woman but thanks to Ford&Ching here I am. Inside you not only find out about her families new celebrity lifestyle boutique called Kardashian Kaos, her marriage to Lakers Forward Lomar Odom, but you can also flip the pages to find Me in an article about designers “challenging the way people view furniture,” titled “The Art of Style.” photographed by Robert Deutschman.
This is me sitting on my 80 Leg table. I know the table looks great and I look better than normal. That is because of the styling wizardry of Sybile Kohn who picked out everything from my glasses to shoes and Cheryl Calo, former Miss Connecticut, who did her magic to my frizzy straws like the hairdresser in Jens Lekman’s song “Shirin.”
Four other designers are featured in this artical including the infamous Tanya Aguiñiga and, my good friend and fellow memeber of the LA Box Collective, Samuel Moyer. Special thanks to Joseph Shuldiner, Andrea, and Willard for this opportunity to drink Champagne with great folks and get my photo taken with my work!
Spring Back Banker’s Chair
My friend Veronica gave me two Ikea chairs she had in her apartment in Hollywood. They were laminate bent leg living room chairs that had no arms. The cushions smelled like cat so I threw them out. I kept the frames five-ever because the bent wood seemed too good to throw away. I also had these oak banker’s chairs with broken legs. Again I just couldn’t throw them away because they seemed too good.
One day I got sick of all of them hanging around, taking up space and not paying rent! I tried to throw them away, but I ended up taking them apart and reassembling all four chairs into one chair. It was too much fun! We use it in my living room and it is kind of a hit because it is bouncy with the bend wood and the springs from the bankers chairs.
To make it I took both Ikea chairs and removed all of the cross members and bolts. Then I lined the bent legs up together. I noticed all of the holes for the through bolts lined up perfectly so I took some threaded rode and cut it to the combined width of all four legs plus enough room for a bolt cap on each side. I put some Loctite on the thread ends and bolted them together.
The bankers chair seats are held onto the chair with through bolts and threaded inserts I mounted into the bottom of the oak seats. I took the springs off the banker’s chairs and mounted them to the Ikea legs by screwing 2 chunks of closet rod to them. The springs just rest over them and the seat of the chair just rests on the springs. The springs actually fit into a recess in the oak seats perfectly locking it in place. It was all just very lucky. I hope you enjoy it.
I submitted this chair to the Ikea Hacker Blog and they posted it! Ikea Hacker is a great blog where people show the different ways they use Ikea parts to make their own designs. People post pictures and directions on how they did it so you can copy them at home. Since they posted my chair I learned from graham_f and the IkeaQueen that the chair legs are from a chair called the Klackbo. Ikea is a company whose designs are so prolific throughout the world that their parts have become the alphabet for an underground pre-made part design movement that you can witness by visiting ikeahacker.blogspot.com. It is like a dj mixing songs just with furniture.
Pollywog Coffee Table
I miss playing in my neighbor’s pond with my sister and brother when we were kids. It was fed by a small stream that trickled down Rattle Snake Mountain into a green back yard.
In spring the pond was full of milky translucent tapioca bubbles with black dots in the middle. The frog eggs would cluster together where female frog laid them by the hundreds. Wadding into the water we picked them up with our hands. They slid between our fingers like globs of dinosaur mucus.
It was disgusting yet wonderful because the little bubbles maintained their elastic protective cell around the forming pollywog. As they matured you could see the little black dots starting to squirm and move around inside the clear bubble. It is like seeing a fetus in the womb through an ultrasound only Mother Nature hooks you up with a clear belly so you have an even better view inside.
I wanted to make a table that had pollywog eggs carved in the bottom because I find the unique shapes and forms of clusters of frog eggs beautiful. I imagined it enlarged. Enlarging something is a simple way of taking it out of the context you found it in. Instantly, the simply design stolen form nature seems original in its abstracted form.
Mostly, it just reminds me of being a kid.
This table is milled from a sheet of 1″ acrylic that was severely scratched and damaged. The surface looked like it had been towed behind a truck through a gravel road for 45 miles. It was given to me by my friend Rodney Rojas with the promise that it would be used for something cool.
I want to thank some amazing people for their help and encouragement with this piece. Will Rollins from 100 x btr and Rodney Rojas are the masterminds who set up the acrylic for milling. By choosing the proper bits, speed and mill path they were able to create a surface texture that is so smooth it does need any finishing. Once again James Peterson from Art & Contraptions gave me critical design advise that saved me from creating a piece that would self destruct in 6 months. Although the milling process cleaned up the bottom of the table the top of the table was very deeply scratched. Katsumi Moroi is an amazing designer, architect, instructor and master of all materials who was kind enough to lead me through the polishing process that made the top scratch free and perfectly clear. Not only did he teach me the process but he also donated his time and skills to make sure it turned out perfect. Magenta Pinuethai is the talented craftswoman who donated her time and skills to help me create the bendy legs. Her positive nature, relentless persistence and great sense of humor allowed me to finish it in time for Dwell on Design 2010. The bottom of the table was modeled by NURBS sculptor Robbie Eleazer. His expert modeling skills and his enthusiasm made drawing this seem like more fun than work. It was fast and clean and I didn’t even get any voronoi on my shoe. Andrea Lee Mitchell is the talented young photographer who captured and edited these images. She has a great eye and an ability to put people at ease with her kind disposition.
I would like to thank artists Mark Licari because working with him on his “Nervous Men” gave me the idea to use bendable armature wired for the legs. Each leg is made from 3/8″ aluminum armature wire I lubed up with soapy water and slid an industrial rubber hose over. The ends are, you guessed it, rubber cane ends. The table is 46″ X 46″ square and its height can be adjusted by bending the aluminum legs. Please email for pricing.
California Home + Design
Look at this tear sheet out of the July/August issue of California Home + Design. It is the first time my work made it to print! The text annonces the opening of the PMCA California Design Biennial where my Dragon Table will be on display from July 18th – October 31 2010, Halloween. You are invited! Come on down to the opening on July 17th and see the Dragon Table in person!
LA Box Collective Press
Flipping through the pages of the same magazine I notice this picture of the LA Box Collective. I am the guy looking the wrong direction because Topher ,green shirt, made a joke. I can’t believe it is in the same issue but you will hear no complaints from me!
So Happy Together – The LA Box Collective at the Fifth Floor Gallery
You remember Inky, Blinky and Pac Man, aka the Jennybugg Table. Well Inky and Pac Man are on display in a group show with the LA Box Collective at the Fifth Floor Gallery in Los Angeles’ China Town through August 29, 2010. The LA Box Collective is a group of furniture designers on a mission to provide you with tranquilo, hand made furniture made with a conscious.
You deserve a pat on the back!
For your enjoyment the LA Box Collective has put together a little game. The raw wood used to make each piece is hung on the wall like a collage. On the floor sits the finished objects. Match the raw material with the finished piece and win a pat on the back from LA Box Collective’s Robert Apodaca. Members of the collective are Cliff Spencer Furniture, Leigh Kivowitz Spencer, Sidecar Furniture, caseandgrain, whyrHymer, Robert Apodaca, Stranger Furniture, Edward Pine Stevens, Casey Dzierienga, Sam Moyer, Kacey Schaffrath, Andrew Riiska, and Topher Paterno.
Unleash the Dragon
Yes, there are four of me in that picture. Matt Lee of Sights&Sounds (Wedding Photography) took that shot in my kitchen with my new Dragon Table and my Boxen Island. Splitting myself into four was a little painful but I think the photo was worth it. It illustrates how the playful, practical, imaginative, and realistic sides of me all play a role in creating my designs. Click here to see higher resolution pictures of this and the other great photographs Matt took of my new work!
The Dragon table is a series of two seven foot long tables that can be arranged end to end to make one 14′ X 3 1/2′ table or placed side by side they make a 7′ X 7′ square table. I reclaimed the wood from a renovated building in Downtown LA on Alameda street a few blocks from my loft with the help of my assistants Magenta Pinruethai and Charles Corbin. The table top has a hand planed finish that gives the grain a depth and a clarity that cannot be achieve with sand paper. The leg joints are hand chiseled and the legs are permanently locked into place with hardwood wedges visible in the top of the table. The bottom of each table is not only slightly arched in all four directions but also carved with bubbles. Extending in a grid along the curving surface the bubbles looked like the scales of dragon when I finally put the two finished tables together. Hence the name. However, the bubbles were inspired by textures like bubble wrap, the rubber nubs on a stainless steal gas peddle and the yellow non slip grips by the edge of subway and train tracks, but not really mythical beasts.
Why carve bubbles into the bottom of the table? Because it is fun! The half bubbles on the sides of the table are hints of what awaits underneath. It is a process of interaction that might take a whole meal or glass of wine to discover but eventually wandering hands find the carvings and soon after that people are peeking underneathth to get a better view. For me that is the fun. I love the delayed tactile discovery and how the carving is temporarily veiled by the table’s utilitarian nature. I like the subtleties of the common hiding the extraordinary.
Not only did Matt Lee take these great photographs he also shot an amazing film of the making of the dragon table, which you can watch by clicking on the picture of me cutting wood. He is a master of his craft and I am honored to have worked with him. He is always professional and creative despite being way to young to be this talented. Plus there is one more thing. Matt Lee, renaissance man, also drew the Dragon Table in 3d making it possible for Will Rollins of 100XBetter to mill it on his CNC Router. Click here to see a picture of 100Xbetter’s chair in Sunset Magazine. Kudos to Matt and Will for all of the amazing help they gave me!
Boxen is a line of simple case work. They are 16″ X 16″ X 16″ cubes that can be stacked to create shelving. They are made from scrap plywood reclaimed from several wood shops. Despite their inferior plywood make up, just kidding there are many virtues to plywood, the cubes are still finished with the best Hand Rubbed Tung oil money can buy to bring out the beauty and depth of the different species veneers and even enriching the MDF with a dark warm tone. They are crafted with classic casework construction and shamelessly display the natural edge of the plywood. The backs are fitted with 3/8″ opaque plexi glass that is durrable and allows light to shine through the back.
For purchasing and pricing please contact The Ford & Ching gallery. Come to Ford & Ching on March 6th to see my work in person at their Spring Cocktail Party and Launch!
Ford & Ching Website Launch
Here are some photos of the Ford & Ching Website Launch held at Kim Sing Theater. Thank you Ford & Ching and photographers TIGERTIGER for the images! You can see more photos of the party at http://fordandching.com. Above Hana from TIGERTIGER takes a photo of my 69 leg table.
This is the bottom of my newest table. The Dragon Table. It is actually only half of it. I didn’t finish the other half in time for the launch. Opps. . . I recovered the 16′ Douglas Fir beams that this table is made of on Alameda St. 2 blocks from my loft. The bottom is first rendered in 3d and carved with a milling machine. The legs are connected to the top with hand carved jointery that pierces through the bottom and shows in the table surface. Finally the top is hand planed, scraped and finished with Tung Oil. Special thanks to Magenta and Corbin for all of their hard work helping me lift and mill these beastly beams. I can’t forget Matt Lee who expertly rendered the bottom in 3d and Will Rollins from 100 X Better for his help milling the bottom.
Ford & Ching Open a New Satellite Showroom in Oakland
This August Willard Ford and Andrea Ching opened a new sample warehouse or as I like to call it “The Satellite Showroom in Oakland, California. If you happened to stop by the Los Angeles Gallery after the first week in August hoping to see my “Belly Table” I am sorry to have disappointed you because we moved it to East Bay. Don’t fret you can still see my work at the Kim Sing Theater where I just delivered my newest work “The Dragon Table.”
Here box-less F&C marshmallows are displayed in Cherry Burl bowl I spun on the lathe this summer when I visited Connecticut in July. I just want to thank Tyler Bristol for giving me a great lesson on the lathe.
To celebrate this momentous occasion I made a series of 108 limited addition marshmallow boxes. Each individual box is numbered and decorated with a imaged I burned into the wood with a soldering iron and comes complete with your very own laser etched F&C marshmallow. I know it was a lot of work but Andrea was gracious enough to provide me with enough beer to make it fun. I only burned myself once but luckily I was numb enough to not feel it. Here are few of them.
Please Check out the Dwell Blog for more images of the event. http://www.dwell.com/articles/ford-ching-comes-to-oakland.html Special thanks to Jordan Kushins from Dwell and his whole crew including Brendan Callahan from Semigood Design and Tiffany Chu for coming to the opening and making it awsome.