hmemerson

Lucky for me that one of the first shops I worked in the "foreman" ( I use the term loosely, as he was down to three, man...) was missing several fingers on his left hand, lost while talking to someone while pushing a piece through a table saw..........As a guitarist I can firmly avow that NOTHING gets your attention like seeing someone like that!!

It certainly did affect my self-preservation sense of concentration, though. Several shops later I was at the table saw one day and was handed a narrow piece of oak to trim.

Unbeknownst to me there was a small brad embedded that the worker failed to mention, and while ripping the piece the blunt end of the brad came shooting out and embedded itself in the crook of my right elbow, while I was still finishing the rip.

I only flinched, though, finished the cut and shut off the saw. I walked over to the worker who handed me the piece and let him have it with the proof plain to see.

Never a dull moment, so to speak.

HE

I have always seen the Scandanavian style as timeless, and for the most part, non-trendy. It's easy on the eyes, the hands and soul in so many ways.

I was very drawn to Scandanavian style furniture, but I never realized when I was in my teens. I was too busy playing guitar and performing.

However when I moved out and started needing furniture for my wife and I, it was then, in retrospect, that I realized how long I'd been enamored with the lines, proportions, etc.

Fast forward a bunch of years and I now realize through my love of The Craftsman style that THEY (The Scandanavians) were not only heavily influenced by The Shakers, but they must have been aware of, and influenced somewhat, by Charles and Henry Greene, CR McIntosh, et al.

I still have a Scandanavian Gallery hardcover book somewhere! I think the time is always right for good furniture!

Happy New Year all!

Howard Emerson
howardemerson.com