photography by clint blowers edited by emily gagne
and janine white
who: David Cann | where: Stockton, NJ | what: Tractor stool made with vintage seat and steel base, around
$650, 609-397-9095, moorlandstudios.com. | inspiration: “A friend who owns an organic meat company and
lives on a Bucks County farm brought me the original seats. She wanted me to design and make chairs for the kitchen
table in her farmhouse.” | works with: Brass, bronze and stainless steel | side job: Conservation work, like
spiffing up the William penn atop City Hall, through his firm, Moorland Studios. | Visit: Moorland Studios’ open
house (25 South Main Street, Stockton, New Jersey) on November 28th-30th, or by appointment.
EPIEC Sstatement
Design within our reach: beautiful, functional furniture
from local studios
08PhiladelPhia home winter 2009
who: Mariah Wren | where: Northeast philadelphia | what: “Center City” chair, in cherry with hand-printed
linen-cotton “Leaves” upholstery, $1,995, 267-847-3803, wrenandcooper.com. | early start: “I grew up helping
my parents repair and renovate their early-1900s Mt. Airy home, and at 15, I built my first coffee table out of plywood.” | studied at: Rhode Island School of Design | this piece: “For me, this chair is all about the negative spaces
formed between the legs and the back of the cushion. I printed the fabric so that the leaves would flow around the back
and seat in a winding curve.” | FaVorite wood: Black walnut | see more at: The Second Annual Mt. Airy
Furniture Show, December 5th-7th at the Sedgwick Theatre, 7137 Germantown Avenue.
who: Michael Hurwitz | where: Old City | what: Alaskan yellow
cedar (salvaged from a city water
tower) and epoxy resin “Lattice Table”
for four, $40,000, 16 South 3rd Street
(studio hours by appointment), 215-
627-6092. | why Furniture design: “In high school, I saw an
exhibition of five studio furniture mak-
ers at the Renwick Gallery in Wash-
ington, D.C.: Wendell Castle, George
Nakashima, Wharton esherick, Sam
Maloof and Art Carpenter. It left me
weak in the knees.” | Full circle: Michael’s “Rocking Chaise” is now part
of the Renwick’s permanent collection. | this piece: “It started concep-
tually—to involve light transference in
a piece.” The table took about 2,000
hours to make. | philosophy: Michael did artist residencies in Kyoto
and Owani. “One thing that I liked
about Japanese sensibility is that it’s
rarely measured against a timeline. As
you are making something, you’re not
worried about when it’s going to be
done.” | just Finished: Two small
side tables for Glenn Close. | next: Hurwitz’s Marina Line will include
more affordable production pieces,
all made of recycled fabrics, bamboo
and local cherry, and priced from
$2,000 to $7,000.
PhilaDelPhia home winter 200928
who: Josh Owen | where: Bella Vista | what: polyethylene “SOS” stool for Casamania, $192, unicahome.
com; joshowen.com. | First piece eVer sold: The Tone Knob lamp for Umbra was his first piece com-
missioned by a major manufacturer; Owen was 28 years
old. | FaVorite Furniture designer: Achille
Castiglioni | you’ll also Find him: In the class-
room, teaching in philadelphia University’s industrial
design program. | trÈs magniFique: The “SOS” stool
was just selected for the permanent design collection of
paris’s Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges pompi-
dou. | biggest Fan: “My six-year-old son has this stool
in his room. He says he likes it because his dad made it. And
because he can hang things off of the hooks.”
who: Jaime Salm, co-founder of MIO | where: Loft
District | what: Rubber stool with recycled-tire seat, $210,
446 North 12th Street, 215-925-9359, mioculture.com. | ap-proach to Furniture design: Accessible sustain-
ability | background: Grew up making junk sculptures,
and studied industrial design at the University of the Arts. | philosophy: “I believe there are no bad materials, just
bad applications for materials.” | brain Food: “I try to
get some sugar in my system often, in the form of chocolate
chip cookies, chocolate bars or whatever else I can get my
hands on.” | First success: A piece from Salm’s student
thesis made from recycled waste paper was bought by a
visual coordinator at Anthropologie. “She asked us to design a
signage system with the material. It was a sign we were on the
right track.” | FaVorite Furniture designers: The
eameses and Ingvar Kamprad | bicycling to work: “provides me with inspiration all day.”
who: Adam Rung | where: port Richmond | what: Windsor-style chair made of cherry, $850, 3211 Cedar Street
(showroom hours by appointment), 215-681-3354, adamrung.
com. | how he got started: Six-year apprenticeship
with parents, paul and Bonnie Rung, who build Shaker furni-
ture in Chambersburg. | how his designs haVe changed: “I’ve definitely gone from very Shaker-influenced
pieces to stuff that’s much more free-form and contemporary.” | inspiration For this piece: “Straight from my
childhood. I grew up sitting around a big, huge dining table
with Windsors around it. It’s fond memories of being with my
family at dinner.” | eco-Friendly: “I’ve used reclaimed
floor joists and beams to make cabinetry, bar tops, kitchen
counters.” | FaVorite piece: “A mid-century Danish-style
rocking chair I got at an auction. Or my red, plush Art Deco-
style lounge chair.”
who: Mira Nakashima | where: New Hope | what: english walnut “Concordia” chair, $4,000,
1847 Aquetong Road, New Hope, 215-862-2272, naka-
shimawoodworker.com. | Family ties: Daughter of
internationally acclaimed furniture artist and craftsman
George Nakashima. “I trained for 20 years as my father’s
assistant, starting with the shop drawings and finding
wood for clients, and eventually developing client projects
from start to finish.” | FaVorite wood: english oak
burl | studio soundtrack: Bach | FaVorite Furniture designer: “Does George Nakashima
count? If not, Harry Bertoia for eames.” | hidden tal-ents: plays the guitar and flute. | FaVorite piece: “The maple burl and walnut music stand my father made
for me as a wedding present in 1985. I use it to display pho-
tographs of my grandchildren.” | this piece: Designed
for her friends in the Concordia Chamber players to sit on
during performances. “I sat sketching during one of their
concerts, and came up with a basic design.”
58 winter 2009 Phillymaghome.com
14 PhilaDelPhia home winter 2009
who: The Amuneal Manufacturing design team | where: Frankford | what: Dining chair with lacquer finish
over custom-printed upholstery right down to the feet, from $2,500, available through your architect or designer, 215-
535-3000, amuneal.com. | this piece: Working with an architect, clients can choose images for the chairs and get
color versions, too. | philosophy: Find unique uses for everyday materials like metal, wood, glass, acrylic and fabric. | who’s on the team: Welders, sculptors and industrial designers | what they usually do: Large-scale
custom work—sleek stairs, home bars—for architect-designed residences. | in public: Amuneal fabricated the en-
trance gates at the Lilly pulitzer shop in the plaza at King of prussia. | sidenote: The company started out
in 1965 producing magnetic shielding, and that’s still a third of their business.
who: Ric Allison | where: east Falls | what: Cherry “Gipetto” chair with brass pins, $7,200, 267-
258-8853, ricallisonstudios.com. | this piece: “I considered three positions in order to design a com-
fortable chair: sitting up and eating at the dining
room table, leaning back from the table, and lounging.
The chair is part of a dining room set I made on com-
mission for peter and Judy Leone’s Rittenhouse
Square home.” | approach: “I look at clients’
personalities—what kind of wine they like, their art
and collections. I photograph the space. I look around
for clues.” | why Furniture: “I get frustrated
at museums when you can’t touch the work. Furniture
is sculpture you can interact with.” | when he’s not making Furniture: He’s designing surf-
boards for his company, Rayskin Longboards.
PhilaDelPhia home winter 200968
14 PhilaDelPhia home winter 2009
who: Matthias pliessnig | where: Old City | what: eleven-foot-long, bentwood tête-a-tête-style bench
called “providence,” $28,500, Wexler Gallery, 201 North 3rd Street, 215-923-7030, wexlergallery.com; matthias-
studio.com. | meant For: Comfortable face-to-face interaction. | how it was built: Steam-bending.
“The wood gets soft as a noodle in 10 to 15 minutes. I have 30 seconds to bend it into the position I want, and then
it starts to dry. I was inspired to do this after I spent a summer building a boat.” | numbers game: “provi-
dence” has 7,000 intersections of wood, with every piece custom-bent and fit together, and every curve different. | more like this: In the series, there are small benches, a large lounge chair and a Thonet-inspired café chair.
(Michael Thonet experimented with steam-bending wood in the mid-1800s.)
who: Leslie Webb | where: Germantown | what: Rift-
sawn white-oak stack of drawers,
$3,650, 215-704-2595, lewebb.com. | use it: In an entry hall. “I was
thinking it would be nice to have
personal drawers for keys, mail, news-
papers, umbrellas and all the other
everyday things we bring home with
us.” | inspiration For this piece: An edward Burtynsky print.
“I loved the texture and movement
within it, and I wanted to recreate
that.” | coVets: “A Chinese lounge
chair from my childhood. One day I
will convince my mother to part with
it.” | see more at: The phila-
delphia Museum of Art Craft Show,
November 13th-16th at the Conven-
tion Center, 1101 Arch Street.
PhilaDelPhia home winter 200988
14 PhilaDelPhia home winter 2009
who: David Teague | where: Lambertville
| what: Dining room table with brass top and
zinc legs, $7,500, 609-397-6966, davidteaguedesign.
com; or find Teague-designed furniture at Twist,
1134 pine Street, 215-925-1242, twisthome.com. | his pieces: “My tables are usually made of
metals—copper, zinc, brass—and wood, and have the
aesthetic and warmth of an older piece.” | how he gets that look: Three- or four-day patina
process, acid wash, hammering. | inspiration: “Often something I’ve seen in antique pieces that I
carry at my gallery, America Antiques & Designs.” | production: “I work with other Bucks County
artists: iron workers, sheet metal workers and ma-
chinists. In my shop above the gallery, I do the wood
parts, assembly and patina.” | repurposing: “We bought knitting machines from a Germantown
factory where they made corsets and girdles. We
incorporated the beautiful cast-iron legs into tables.” | who buys his work: Julian Schnabel, Martha
Stewart co-CeO Robin Marino, Richard Gere, Marisa
Tomei, Smith & Wollensky.
For more photos of the furniture featured in
this story, go to phillymaghome.com.
who: T.R. Risk | where: Bryn Mawr | what: Dresser made of antique walnut, chestnut and cherry with antique
crystal knobs, $4,800, Origin & Ash, 876 West Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, 610-527-6627, originandash.com. | education: Self-taught | inspiration: “I met Ralph Lauren years ago when I was at the beginning of my
career. Ralph inspired me to follow my dreams and from that moment on, I’ve never allowed anything other than the
desire to create dictate what I do.” | FaVorite materials: Antique lumber, paired with “little surprises,” such as
antique bolts, strips of salvaged tin, cut nails. | work habits: “I start each new project with a clean-cut shave, a
new pair of Diesel jeans, some white Hanes t-shirts, and headbands to keep my hair back.” | proudest moment: “Seeing my son asleep in a bed I designed and created especially for him brings me the most happiness.”
19 winter 2009 Phillymaghome.com