The JOHNHOUSMAND family of design has grown leaps and bounds over the past couple of years. From simple roundback benches to sleek microslab low tables, we’ve run the gamut – but it hasn’t been sheer coincidence. Our Black Walnut No. 0184 desk with acrylic legs and two drawers was such a hit that it inspired a new iteration of the seamless combination of wood and acrylic… introducing the No. 0237.2 Black Walnut and acrylic dresser!
We love the effect the slices of acrylic make on the ends of the dresser, giving a light and airy touch. The clear acrylic slab contrasts with the exquisite character of the Black Walnut, and lends a touch of magic to the structure of the dresser. The special cut of the acrylic handles also adds luminosity against the dark wood. We wonder what this new piece will inspire next!
In April we announced a new custom finish: Tattooed Acrylic and Wood. Now after months of experimentation and anticipation we are excited to present our first tattooed table: the No. 0238 acrylic side table with black legs and a cicada “graphic tattoo”.
We first unveiled this piece in May at our booth at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair(see below). With a treatment like this tattoo the possibilities really are endless! The fill color, width of line, graphic, and material are all up to the imagination. As you can see here, we decided to emblazon our very first tattooed product with one of John’s favorite creatures: the cicada. You may know this mysterious insect from the cicada song that can be heard in the summertime in heavily wooded areas. We’ve learned to embrace cicadas even though they can damage and cause scarring to tree branches. Just like a beauty mark, we see this natural marking as something to be proud of.
It has been a whirlwind of a weekend with the kickoff of the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF)! The JOHNHOUSHMAND team stayed up late Friday putting the finishing touches on our very own zen garden at booth #1122.
We wanted to let the natural beauty of our furniture speak for itself in a calming oasis. Using sand, stones, slate tiles, and moss we created a unique environment for our wood, metal and glass pieces. We even developed a special sand-paste in order to make a one-0f-a-kind flooring that looks like loose sand but can be walked across freely without breaking the swirling pattern.
Additionally for this special occasion JOHNHOUSHMAND debuted two new pieces! Both the Tattooed Acrylic Cicada Side Table and the Petrified Wood Low Table were noticeable show stoppers amongst the classics on show. JOHNHOUSHMAND was one of hundreds of exhibitors at the fair this year including Kohler, Jonathan Adler, Lindsey Adelman, Charles Pollock, Blu Dot, Artek, and many more.
Our newest custom finish is pure beauty without the pain: tattooed wood and acrylic. At JOHNHOUSHMAND we love the natural and uncontrollable characteristics in salvaged wood but this “tattoo” finish is a custom dream.
At the shop upstate we create a CAD drawing of the desired graphic and send it to a CNC machine which routes out the graphics from either wood or acrylic. Next we fill the path in with epoxy (which can be any number of colors) to really bring out the image. So not only do we have control over the image but also the color and thickness of line! Flexibility at its finest.
Here are some samples of the clean and crisp shapes created by this process for a project we’re currently working on.
What’s black, and white and sleek all over? Sporty and sleek, this No. 0149.36 smokey acrylic dining chair with bleached Spalted Maple legs is a fun, new addition to our family of No. 0149 bent acrylic dining chairs.
Dark but lustrous, the 1/2″ bent acrylic acts as the perfect contrast against the bright white of the bleached Spalted Maple. The dark shade of the acrylic is enhanced by the bright gleams of light that reflect on it, while the bright white of the Spalted Maple is accentuated by the dark lines in the grain.
Bold and simple, this piece is perfectly suited to be the center of attention.
The CLEARLY FUNCTIONAL line came to be from the wish to marry the airy glassine quality of acrylic with the substantial and vital quality of wood. The design world is full of plastic and acrylic products which for the most part we find alienating, ugly, and harsh. It was considered that if we could transform that problem with a natural element, we might get a magnificent synergy and an iconic design as well. As we developed methods of attaching the two materials invisibly and minimally, and as we also experimented with casting a “plastic” into a natural material (live-edge wood), we unleashed a fiesta of exciting designs that hit the mark…extraordinary visual appeal, industrial design pedigree, and a real wood component that takes us into the world of fine furniture. Win, win, win, win, win…fun, fun, fun, fun…cool, cool, cool, cool.
We love the effect the slices of acrylic make on the ends of the dresser, giving a light and airy touch. The clear acrylic slab contrasts with the exquisite character of the Black Walnut, and lends a touch of magic to the structure of the dresser. The special cut of the acrylic handles also adds luminosity against the dark wood. We wonder what this new piece will inspire next!
