What is Studio Furniture?
Studio furniture occupies a small but unique niche in the overall furniture market. Because every maker has their own style, it is best defined through commonalities, including:
- Studio furniture straddles the elusive border between “art” and “furniture”; most makers have a recognizable style of their own.
- Studio furniture makers typically complete all the work on a piece themselves, from design through finishing. Often pieces are unique or “one of a kind”.
- Pieces are usually completed on a commission basis, or sold through high-end galleries.
- Pieces are expensive due to the demanding nature of the work, requiring extremely high labour inputs, as well as high overhead costs of maintaining a wood working studio complete with precision tools.
This then raises the question: “Why studio furniture?” My belief is that studio furniture is not solely about the furniture in and of itself, but about the entire process. How often is it that clients can work together with the maker to have an object of beauty created especially for them? Moreover, an object that will be useful and aesthetically pleasing for generations to come, developing more character with age? This human element is the truth of studio furniture: it allows people to connect and feel joy in a society which is becoming increasingly cold, sterile and impersonal.
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| Fitting a mortise and tenon |
Hand cutting dovetails |
Joinery can become quite complex |
Read what some of my customers have to say about the AJW Studio Furniture experience. View Testimonials.
For a more in-depth view of the steps in constructing a studio furniture piece, see the making of the Orthoceras slab table
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