Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Fine Furniture and Woodworking Festival in Woodstock, Vermont

A bunch of Guild members spent the weekend in Woodstock at the Fine Furniture and Woodworking Festival on Sept 25 and 26.   We had a group booth that included work of around 15 members and a handful of members also has their own booths at the show.   At this point it is hard to say if the show was a financial success or not.  Selling furniture is different from selling scarves and such as usually there is some back and forth before a sale of furniture is made.

 For me, the opportunity to chat with members and other furniture makers and woodworkers was well worth the effort to do the show.  We spend so much time on our own that this can be a great opportunity to recharge the mental batteries.  Having the opportunity to bounce ideas off of each other over a couple of days is a great thing rather than through an email or short phone call. Mostly just laughing together.  Being a member of the Guild has financial reward for me by feeding customers to my website from the Guild site but has the even greater reward of community in an otherwise solitary endeavor.  Even though many of us are potential competitors, we actually have a good time when we get together.

Why be a member of the Guild of Vermont Furniture Makers? The Guild is great. Long live the Guild.

Thanks,
Tim 

Below are some shots of members and member's booths and our group booth.  These shots are taken during the quiet times at the show when I had a chance to leave my booth. (That is why there are so few extra people around)

David Hurwitz featured in his own work.

Janet Collins hard at work on some of her inlay work that she demonstrated at the show.

Janet's daughter, Lauren was a cheerful addition to the group.

Jim Becker

Bill Laberge had his own booth

David Hurwitz and Dan Mosheim

David Boynton helped man the Guild booth

Walt Stanley wondering where he left his shoes.

My (Timothy Clark's) shaving horse (center) that allowed me to demonstrate and get some work done.

Timothy Clark's booth

Janet Collins answering questions in her booth.

David Hurwitz's booth.  David , center, his dad , Art , right and winner of the Studio and Custom portion of the Design Comp,   Doug "sideboard" Clarner.

Jim Becker in his booth

Charlie Shackleton in his booth.

Walt Stanley's booth.

Janet Collins carving one of her turned bowls.


McGuire Family Furniture Maker's booth
Dave Boynton and Dan Mosheim in the Guild booth

Guild booth

Guild booth,  Kit Clark's chair center

Guild booth, Timothy Clark's bench.
Guild booth

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Sheldon Museum Chair Talk

This week I gave a talk about the history of Windsor chairs and how that relates to my work.    The talk took place at Sheldon Museum in Middlebury, Vermont.  It is a great little museum, especially if you are into Windsors. They have a great collection and I was very inspired to come up with some new designs after revisiting some of these originals.  It has been over 10 years since I spent a lot of time at the Shelburne Museum, also in Vermont.  That was were  I found the inspiration for my Waltham line of chairs.   I have not given any presentations for many years so this was a bit nerve racking to get ready for but it was actually a lot of fun.  I hope to do more of this.  It can be very easy to hide out in my shop and not interact with the public. Especially in this time of the internet.