Whence It Came_ Background
...Five aspects strike the eye that shaped his oeuvre: the adherence to a strict form of functionalism..; the idea that design should improve on historical examples; the strong sense of the quality and beauty of wood as a material; his advocacy of plain, affordable and often multifunctional furniture; and the clear system of proportions Klint tried out as early as 1917 with industrially manufactured furniture...
-Thomas Wagner on Børge Mogensen
“Grab an end,” he said, as if I looked as though I wasn’t planning to help. Mike, a man I assume to be around 25 years my senior, heaved his fatter half of the log in the back of his truck making it look light as a feather; while I winced as a ping in my back signaled the brink of blow out.
“Holy hell green logs are heavy,” I said.
“Cut it yesterday,” he responded, as we both climbed back into his truck.
Much to my relief, he backed the tailgate up right to the rear of my van, allowing for an easy transfer of logs between vehicles. “How much do I owe ya?”
“Don’t worry about it, I’m happy to help. Good luck and keep in touch!” We shook hands, something I haven’t done with anyone in over a year now, and I took off back home, being sure to not take any quick turns as the three white oak logs rolled side to side in the rear of the van.
Mogensen, image courtesy of Møbler med holdnig
The next few days saw nonstop rain, delaying any log splitting, while I chomped at the bit. Thursday afternoon from the studio at RISD I noticed a break in the clouds. I grabbed my bike and took off for home.
Hatchet, mallet, a series of wedges, and some sore forearms, and the largest of the three logs was split and quartered. Putting my newly fashioned riving brake to use, I knocked the quarters down further still, taking my best stab at achieving the highest yield. With any luck, these three free logs from the side of the road 20 miles south of my house would give me parts for four chairs.
On my first walk through RISD’s 3D store I saw for sale something which I had not been able to buy for a number of years. I was immediately reminded of the last time I tried to purchase this favorite material of mine in my hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio sometime in 2015 or 2016.
I wandered around the warehouse three, maybe four times. I thought I had the place memorized, but maybe I was mistaken. There was rough four-quarter in rift and plain sawn, S4S three-quarter, but for the life of me, I could not find any eight-quarter ash. I swallowed my pride, and circled back to the awkwardly positioned desk in the center of the warehouse.
Choosing to feign confidence, I went to place an order. “Can I have 40 board feet of eight quarter Ash?”
“We can’t get eight quarter ash anymore. The state has determined that some beetles can survive kiln drying in material that thick, so it’s no longer available.”
“I guess we knew this was gonna happen at some point,” I replied, and with a few more words exchanged, I wandered back off to the edges of the warehouse, returning to the racks to think of what I could use in place of Ash.
Back at RISD in present day, I leafed through the pre-cut boards stacked on the industrial steel shelving. I picked out two, eight inch by 48 inch boards, and headed to the front counter. Five and one-third board feet. I had no project in mind for the material, but the surprise of seeing it sitting there on the shelf triggered some sort of hoarding instinct I did not know I had.
I had scrutinized that same aisle in a handful of other big box hardware stores in the past, yet this was my first time visiting a “home improvement center” in my new home state of Rhode Island. My heart was set on inch and half dowels, but I feared they’d only have poplar.
The usual spot held no surprises. Red Oak dowels up to inch and a quarter, poplar up to two inch, a wide variety of smaller sizes in Birch unlike any Birch I had ever bought in any other form…maybe its European?
But stored vertically amongst crown molding, trim, and hand rails, was a product I had never spotted for sale before. The one and half inch closet rods I had always seen for sale in Home Depots around Cincinnati were primed white Poplar. These were unfinished Southern Yellow Pine! In New England! Sold by the foot. The price was awfully high for such a modest material, but Southern Yellow Pine is a species I hold dear. Strong, heavy, and usually affordable, I have made a good many things using Yellow Pine 2x12’s as a raw material...you just have to take your time milling it, and sticker it with care.
I bought 8 feet of closet rod, a handful of three quarter and one inch red oak dowels, and a sheet of luan. I knew my project was on.
Origins to Economy
How do the means and materials by which an object is made affect its final outcome? And is the final outcome just the object, or everything involved in its make, the behavior its making promoted, and its being promotes?
What began as an investigation into origins, quickly transitioned into an observation on economy, paving the way for a number of additional projects which appear later on in this book.
I was to make three distinct iterations of a chair I myself did not design, differentiated by the manners and materials used to construct each version, and leveraging the potential afforded by each mode.
My muse would be the J39 chair, designed in 1947 by Borge Mogensen in Denmark. My mentors would be the internet, Jennie Alexander, and my dad.
The names of each of the three iterations, and the parameters guiding each were laid out well before construction.
Analog | Digital | Analaog - Was to be as close to a replica of the original as I could make, basing my plans off of a reference 3D CAD model found on Fredericia’s website.
Kentucky Danish - With Jennie Alexander as my imaginary mentor, I was to make this iteration using the tools and techniques described in her book, Make a Chair From a Tree, which would become my bible. Leveraging the properties afforded by these techniques, I would make subtle design changes in scale, detailing, and construction.
Big Box Vernacular - Operating as if I was my dad, and many other folks of his generation, I would make this iteration using only materials and the most accessible of tools available at a home improvement store. (The Home Depot in Warwick) The limitation of materials and tools available via this particular set of constraints I would later find would make design decisions for me.