Spotlight: Midcentury Modern Influences

This is my ninth post about pieces in the Free Verse show at the Messler Gallery at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. I’m grouping these pieces together because they made me think of a midcentury modern office made entirely out of marquetry objects. Additionally, these pieces are examples of using a small number of veneers to make instantly recognizable images.

Adrian Ferrazzutti is a Canadian furniture maker and teacher. His piece Bankers Box takes the ubiquitous office storage staple, with its fake wood-printed surfaces, and makes it into a work of art that is still usable for its original purpose. It’s an idea that Adrian came up with years ago, and he finally decided to make it in 2024. Sometimes I see a piece and my first thought is, “Oh, I wish I’d thought of that!” This is definitely one of those pieces!

Toby Winteringham is an English furniture designer and maker who creates pieces from small household items like mirrors to large boardroom sets for companies. For the Free Verse show, he made two clocks, both entitled Chain Clock, with a marquetry chain motif. Each clock is made of only two types of veneer, but Toby gave depth to the links of the chains by sand-shading the veneers. The simplicity of the designs highlights the richness of the woods, especially the swirling, chocolate-colored elm burl on the square clock.