JOHN
THOE FURNITURE
Custom carving, woodworking and fine furniture.
Good chair design combines comfort and aesthetics together with strong
The attention I pay to detail can be seen in the way I cut the wood. For example, by placing the legs top-to-top on a board, I'm able to ensure that the grain of the wood in the legs, when attached to the chair, will reflect one another. You can see the beauty of this effect in the accompanying photos showing the chair legs and the top of the chair. The paired parts become mirror images of each other.
Since 2007 there has been a steady increase of 10% each year of people requesting table tops made from the same log. I have started stocking logs cut for table tops and have presently a walnut, Tiger maple, high figured and low figured cherry logs. These, as well as others can be ordered from Horizon Woods in Pennsylvania . Depending on figure the price increases range from 5 to 10% table increase. Digital images are available from Horizon's web page before purchasing. The 2 images shown here are from my high figured cherry log. Biography: I received a BFA degree from the University of Iowa. During the 11 years I lived in Iowa, both as a student and a furniture maker, I worked on and off as woodcarver for different furniture shops at the Amana colonies. In 1986, I received a Fulbright alternate status to return to Norway to research Norwegian carving. But an opportunity suddenly arose that would take me, my wife and two cats to Seattle for a carving job that comes once in a lifetime. On a visit to Seattle, I had happened upon a shop that had just won a bid to restore a section of the Episcopal Diocese in Seattle, which suffered fire damage. Advertisements for furniture carvers had been placed in newspapers in England and France; the shop was happy to win the bid and hire me to help with the restoration. After the Diocese job I spent years working with interior decorators and architects. I have worked for the Washington Athletic Club and Sunset Club of Seattle, the Benson Hotel in Portland as well as many prominent homes in the west coast, Hawaii and Alaska. In 1992, I became a member of Northwest Fine Woodworking, a membership owned furniture gallery in Pioneer Square, Seattle. At that time I added a limited production line of 2 chair designs with an oval dining table to my work. These designs I offer are both classical and timeless in shape. I have enlarged them; designed settees from their shapes and now have recently designed a bar stool with a sculptured seat. I have worked in almost every state, Canada and Mexico as well as Europe and Asia. In 1998, I graduated from a shared 6,000 ft. shop in downtown Seattle to a soundproof shop and barn on my own property, which also houses my home on almost an acre, still within the city limits of Seattle. Honors: Fulbright Fellowship to Norway, Alternate status 1986 |
The
chair frame and legs gain their strength from the feather-jointed
corner blocks in the frame. Each corner block consists of up to
36” of linear glue surface (up to 6 rows of tongue and groove joinery).
The strength provided by the corner blocks eliminates the need for
rungs between the legs.
I use American cherry, maple, walnut and Honduras mahogany wood that
highlight the design of the table and chairs. I am more concerned with woods
that highlight the design rather than the design showcasing the wood.