Tea House

the tea house 

is an iconic building in the mind of any designer or craftsperson.

By it's nature it is a small structure that provides only a minimal amount of enclosure.  It blends with and complements natural surroundings, often taking it's material from the landscape.

This tea house was designed and drawn over a short period of time and was to be built entirely without modern fasteners.  This gave us a challenge to create a simple design with the opportunity to show it's character in the way it is built.

We believe that a material is only as good as the craftsperson who works with it.  However, the value of a material also depends on how it is used.  It is up to the designer to find the right materials and put them together in a way that allows the builder to do their best work and up to the builder to understand the intention of the design and execute the details accordingly.

It is important for everyone involved to have an appreciation of the entire process from the first pencil scrape to the final hammer blow.  This tea house is meant to represent that idea.

all images copyright Straight Razor Finish, 2014

Playstructure

“You can discover more about a person from an hour of play than a year of conversation”

— Plato

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I recently had the pleasure of working with a local couple to design and construct a play structure for their quickly growing young son.  He was advancing out of toddlerhood with a energy and aptitude for running and climbing that all children seem to possess, and always seems to catch their parents by surprise.

We worked our way through a number of options and design ideas, trying to find something which was versatile and safe that he could also grow into as his abilities developed.

However, in addition to those challenges, the compelling part of this project for me was to create a piece that would also match the contemporary aesthetic of the parents.  If we could make it a place where the whole family's needs are met, it would bring them even closer together.

Parents and children grow up together, and our individual worlds affect each other in ways most of us don't notice or understand.  In the end, I think the real purpose of this project was to help us understand each other better, through the most basic form of communication we have; play.

Out in the cold

Getting outside in winter can be a bit of a struggle.

The weather can make it difficult to get around; if the will to go out is even strong enough to leave the warmth of home.  It's tempting after the holidays to just bundle up and rush between heated spaces while we wait for spring.

What we can't see through our frosted windows is what makes winter such a special time.  Watching the sun rise over a cold morning walk creates a feeling of being awake that caffeine could never imitate.  Sensing your body reach equilibrium with the freezing outdoors makes the indoors seem that much warmer.  The clear, clean sunlight that only comes out on the coldest day is brighter than any time during the summer.

It's not comfortable, but that's part of what makes it so important.  Winter is a time for us to cleanse and strengthen ourselves, mentally and physically.  The feeling of being alive against the cold and dark is what helps us thrive throughout the year. 

What allows a tree to make it through the winter is the shedding of leaves and consolidation of energy in it's roots.  Without that period of struggle, the tree becomes weak and sick during the warmer months.

Let's create a culture of winter that we can enjoy and celebrate together.  Whether winter is a rainy set of weeks around the new year or if it dominates the calendar, we can all do something to make it special.

So grab some boots and put on a sweater; winter will be over before you know it.

Landwerlen Leather

Landwerlen Leather is a leather supply shop run by generations of the same family at the same location in downtown indianapolis for almost one hundred years.  As soon as you walk in the door, the layers of time and tradition they've built on become evident.

Landwerlen serves a community of local craftspeople with a variety of materials for leather working from belts to bags to shoes and more.  Over time, they've selected specific products based on the needs of those customers and their own experience of what really works best.

It's supply shops like this that keep the community of trades working.  Being able to hold and inspect a piece of material in the hand is a critical part of a craftsperson's work.  But, having a relationship with someone who provides those materials allows you to go even deeper.

These local suppliers are specialists in what they sell.  They have an intimate knowledge of where their material comes from, how it's made and how it can be used.  Even more importantly, they can tell you if there's something else that might be better for what you need.

If the only goal of a supplier is to sell something to you, it's "buyer beware" and that is what passes on to those who use what you create .  But, if their goal is to build a relationship, it's more important to make sure you have what you really need.  This in turn allows you to have confidence in your work and pass that on to your customers.

At Craft, the quality of what we do goes well past our own abilities, right back to these sorts of places and people.  Our relationships with them allow us to have confidence in what we make, and to know that what we make it with also supports a stronger community and commitment to the values we believe in.

If you'd like to visit or call, you can find them in downtown Indianapolis at

365 South Illinois St.

317.636.8300

Bybee Stone,

I recently followed a group on a tour of the Bybee Stone Company in Elletsville, Indiana; an area involved in limestone craftsmanship since the Civil War.  

http://www.bybeestone.com

During that time, I found that they also set an example of craftsmanship, enduring relationships and contemporary relevance I would like to follow in the work done at C R A F T.

On the main floor of the mill, the rough cutting is done with a series of large machines, some of which have been with the company for more than a lifetime.  Many were created as bespoke equipment by the old manufacturing companies in the region, the names of which are sometimes only carried on by their equipment that remains.  Even so, these lovingly maintained tools are still put to hard work every day.

The sense of tradition and continuity is strong on the cutting floor, where master stonecutters work a piece from block to finished work over days or weeks of hand-carving.  The older foundation walls at one end are made in part of un-used pieces of limestone cornice from the oldest days of the mill.  

But, despite the age of the company and it's equipment, Bybee Stone is constantly working to be relevant to the world they send their pieces into.

Skilled labor and contemporary digital design tools are being used together to better coordinate the evolution from drawings to finished work.  By remaining compatible with the latest techniques used by building designers and maintaining a highly skilled group of craftsmen, the company is able to produce a better quality of work at a faster rate than many of it's more automated competitors.

To me, this is what makes Bybee Stone the most relevant.  Their ability to produce quality hand-made pieces with local labor, while also remaining competitive with global mass-producers is what empowers them to preserve the benefits of a traditional way of work.

Winter bamboo

It's what makes our bamboo different; the wintering process.

Anyone who lives through a Midwestern winter knows the difference it makes. It makes us  tougher, while also forcing us to be more flexible.  The conditions change from day to day: freeze, thaw, wind, wet. We have to bend a little to thrive.

That's what our bamboo does year after year until it's ready.

Happy winter everyone.

Meanwhile, in Santa's workshop...

Production of the ski poles continues.  Each little tweak in the process normally comes with a bandaged fingertip, but in the end it makes a product that performs just as good as it looks.

Can't wait to get on the slopes with my own pair!

the Art and Craft of the Machine

I remember being inspired by this essay in college, and it continues to guide me today. 

http://learn.columbia.edu/courses/arch20/pdf/art_hum_reading_50.pdf

Prototype handle

I'm using a stacked leather technique with beechwood rings on the top and bottom.  The inspiration came from my granddad's old carpenter's hammer.

a new front porch

When a project is adding something new onto an existing design, sometimes the best decision is to make it as much a part of the original as you can. 

At that point, the creative spirit flows into the details.

Each connection and piece expresses itself as something important, while showing it's connection to the other pieces around it; old and new. 

So, the house keeps it's relationship to the neighborhood, the porch has a new relationship to the house and the details are what build a relationship with the people who come in contact with it every day. 

Yard Signs - in progress

The text is carved into the surface and the letters have been enameled.

the value of a design

Whenever we plant a tree, buy a couch, or start to lay bricks on top of each other, the action is guided by a design.  And, consciously or otherwise, a design is just an expression of our plan to address the needs that we believe will be fulfilled by whatever we're making.  Giving that design value beyond our own need for it is what makes whatever we create have a purpose beyond that immediate need, and allows it to continue on.

beauty is not in the eye of the beholder.  What creates that perception in the mind is how the shape, color, texture, sparkle and other factors relate to something's surroundings, to itself and to what it does.  It's a sense of wholeness, not just being pretty. 

function follows form.  Something might be designed for a specific purpose, but the way it's used will be determined by the people who use it.  A useful place or object explains itself, but not in too much detail.

value isn't just for money.  Initial price is important, but the value of something isn't in cash; it's how much it can do, with a certain input of resources, over a period of time.  Ideally, that value can increase with use and good care, continually providing for the needs of it's users.

meaning can't be built, only given.  This can happen over time, randomly or on purpose.  A good design considers meaning in every aspect, because it is the factor that most greatly effects all the others.  A building with meaning endures beyond it's usefulness and in spite of it's value.  An object with meaning is passed on even if ugly or outdated.

Pre engineered steel structure

Where there is a building that needs the most cubic space for the least cost, you'll often find a pre-engineered steel structure holding it up. Created to be assembled as a kit with beams and columns trimmed down for maximum efficiency, these systems provide affordable, quick space for industries and institutions with a bottom line. Which, in most of these cases is a much larger priority than aesthetics.

However, this system is much more adaptable than it may appear from the majority of it's built examples. The "structural rib" has become a popular tool in the creation of new and dynamic forms and has led to an increased closeness between designers and fabricators, as in the case of the Digital Design Fabrication Group at M.I.T. www.http://ddf.mit.edu/.

The potential is there for the pre-engineered steel companies already in business across the country to partner with designers, (and vice versa) to produce compelling and affordable buildings within the capabilities of their existing process. Adding the fact that most of these companies use a large amount of recycled steel in their product and the prospect becomes even more attractive.

Quote from Ayn Rand's, "the Fountainhead"

"Wynand could not understand for a long time why the place gave him an impression of luxury, until he saw that one did not notice the furniture at all; only a clean sweep of space, and the luxury of an austerity that had not been simple to achieve."

"In financial value, it was the most modest home that Wynand had entered as a guest in 25 years."

thermal issue with structure exposed through an exterior wall

Exposing a structural member through an exterior wall can be a useful device to create dynamic forms, to connect interior space with the outside, or to showcase the structure as part of the exterior design.

However, when this is done in a temperate climate, that member can also act as a thermal bridge between the inside and outside. This can cause a number of problems such as unanticipated thermal expansion or inconvenient condensation.

If this element is important enough to the design, a solution that has been used in the past is to run a small loop from the house's radiant heating system to equalize the structure's temperature where it comes back inside.

Column fabrication detail

To cut this classic detail, a traditional woodworker would use a drawknife and plane to ease the corners of a wood post. In this case, we are sheathing a treated wood column with finish grade lumber.

To achieve a similar detail, we will hand cut the start of the mitre and use a precision table saw to draw it down the length of the column.

New storage in the shop

Finally getting the tools where I can see them.