The Artisan Furnituremaker: A Creative Survival Guide

In his latest book, The Artisan Furnituremaker, long-time furnituremaker Darrell Peart—author of Greene & Greene: Design Elements for the Workshop and In the Greene & Greene Style—brings all of his experience to bear in providing a masterclass on the three fundamental requirements for success in the field of custom furniture design: creativity, design, and workmanship. The book offers a detailed examination of the design and production methods of the Greene brothers, legendary furnituremakers and architects of the Arts and Crafts Movement, and illuminates how the brothers achieved such brilliance in their designs, and how they collaborated so successfully with the craftsmen who brought their designs to life.

The Artisan Furnituremaker demonstrates how you can combine all three elements— creativity, design, and workmanship—in your own workshop and produce high quality, distinctively original pieces of your own. Peart covers how creativity is essential for fulfilling the desires of your customers, and how superb design translates creativity into an implementable schematic.

Peart goes on to show that in order to create art that is infused with emotion and original in nature, one has to have intuition and inspiration. The book demonstrates this by exploring methods the author has used during his long career to forge a very successful custom furniture business that has produced art of lasting value.

Peart draws upon William Varnum’s book, Industrial Arts Design. However, he stresses that this is just a starting point, and that equations and rules cannot create original art. For that, intellect, intuition, and inspiration are required, all of which are discussed in relation to art and craft. From there Peart moves on to demonstrate how you can enhance your own design and craftsmanship abilities by a process he calls “Design DNA.” Design DNA is a framework for asking the right questions, a procedure he examines at length.

This book is the ultimate resource for creators looking to take their craft to the next level and produce striking, original work.