S L Natof Furniture is located in Chicago's West Loop neighborhood Today I spent a few pleasant hours at Lloyd Natof's furniture studio. He is incubating a collection of beautiful pieces right now. We talked about his preference for veneers as opposed to solid hardwood and it seems we always spend one or two minutes talking about Lloyd's great grandfather - Frank Lloyd Wright. He doesn't wear his famous forebear's identity on his sleeve but he is involved and he is interested in the history - especially the approach to design.
Lloyd Natof working at Taliesin near Spring Green, WI, 2006.Natof enjoys a lot of commissioned casework for clients that include the MacArthur Foundation and some of Chicago's best families but he revels in free-standing furniture. Lloyd currently has around twelve one-of-a-kind pieces for sale. Prices range from around $500 to $6,000.
Lloyd's portfolio holds pieces of superb and durable craftsmanship using luxuriously figured veneers in bookend layouts that have been stained or dyed with a playful pallette. Surfaces are hand rubbed and pollished. Yes friends, in most ways, Lloyd is old-school. People often remark on an Asian feeling in regard to details.
Lloyd observes, "Veneer got a bad reputation because people inherited their grandmother's bedroom set from the 1930's. The adhesives that were used back then were really affected by humidity so you had chipping and veneers lifting off. There are still some purists who insist on 'hide glues' but since world war II, there are many synthetic alternatives. They are much stronger." Ed. note: The term "hide glue" is not derived from the invisibility factor. Think -boiled down horses.
Lloyd sited a historic example of organic glue's temperamental side. When the Metropolitan Museum of art received a piece from the famous art deco master Emile Jacques Ruhlman "the furniture was kept in a van in the New York heat and humidity too long and the surfaces fell off. Off course, the museum just glued them back on."
Lloyd's use of veneer expresses his serious commitment to environmental issues. It's a simple equation. Rare species of wood are really beautiful. Studio furniture often uses rare species of wood. We can get hundreds of well crafted, durable and beautiful pieces from a single tree by using veneers. Isn't this a moral responsibility as well as a valid aesthetic? He has participated in a Chicago Furniture Designer's Association exhibition on the "greening" of furniture design. Natof puts it simply and elegantly, "It's a better use of a tree."
"It works really well - I use it a lot."
S L Natof Studio - visits by appointment only.
1 comment:
hey keith, its jake and i just wanted to let you know i had a blog. i had to set it up for my american lit class but i think your welcome to write if you want.
sincerely - jake.
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