Curvature
Pelican Cabinet by Peter Fleming, bent-laminated plywood, afromosia veneer, slate, and sand cast bronze (22"x14"x28"), 1996
Foyer Table by Tom Hucker, Macassar ebony (48"x18"x34"), 2006
Peter Fleming & Thomas Hucker
September 27 – October 8
In the language of furniture, curves are advanced grammar. In this course, Peter and Tom share their fluent expertise in the design and fabrication of curvaceous furniture, with an emphasis on bent lamination. Each student comes prepared with sketches of a project—such as a small table, music stand, or cabinet—that they develop during the course. More complex projects may be completed at home.
Through lecture and demonstration, the instructors cover a broad range of topics pertinent to making furniture with curved elements out of solid wood, veneer, and/or bending ply. They address aesthetic issues of design and practical issues of construction. Among the many topics they cover are historical and contemporary design, the use of drawing in the design process, solid-wood bent lamination with one- and two-part forms, tapered laminations, hot pipe bending, selection of panel substrates, jointing and matching of veneers, vacuum-pressing, and joinery options for bent parts. As projects progress, Peter and Tom introduce jigs and fixtures for cutting curved parts to size. In addition, they touch upon unconventional means of making forms and multiple parts using plaster and reinforced resins.
Peter Fleming is Head of Furniture at the Sheridan College School of Craft and Design in Toronto, where he has taught since 1989. He also works on commission and produces furniture for exhibition from his Toronto studio. Peter was the 2000 winner of the prestigious Prix Saidye Bronfman Award for Excellence in the Crafts. His work has been exhibited in Canada, the U.S., China, and Japan.
Thomas Hucker is an independent studio furniture maker in Jersey City, New Jersey. He trained with fifth-generation German cabinetmaker Leonard Hilgner before studying under Jere Osgood in Boston University’s Program in Artisanry in the late-1970s. His work is in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Tom is currently represented by Pritam & Eames in Easthampton, New York.