September 2022 – Heide Martin is the Owner and Creative Director of Heide Martin Design Studio, a boutique furniture and housewares company based in Rockland, Maine. Working with her husband, she uses native hardwoods, leather, fiber, and metals which lend to functionality and well-balanced form. A former landscape architect, Heide shifted into furniture design, graduating from CFC’s Nine-month Comprehensive program in 2016, staying on as a Fellow until 2018 and then starting her own business.
Heide shares that during her time at CFC, she learned machine safety and hand tool maintenance, as well as how to hone her own design voice in furniture design. These days, she says she particularly loves getting into the shop to build a new piece on spec. She spends a lot of time managing the business end of the business – invoicing, marketing, client relationships, employee training, etc – so she said that making a new speculative design feels like a real indulgence. She also really loves designing new pieces for clients, and spending time weaving.
“I love to design simple, highly functional pieces, and my design process is one of constant reduction and subtraction. I allow the materials I am working with to guide my designs, and design in a way that highlights the nature of my materials.” Heide says she normally begins a project from a very wide open mindset, not limiting herself by past projects. “I use a meandering design process, shuffling between thumbnail sketches, 3D models, CAD drawings, hand drafting, doodling, daydreaming, and physical models.”
