"Handcrafted leather pulls."
Last year, I interviewed Scott Hudson, founder and CEO of Henrybuilt, a company based in Seattle creating exquisite cabinetry and furniture. He spoke of material selection, and explained to me that "most people’s tendency is to isolate materials, though, really they are only good or bad based on what they are combined with and what they are doing. All good designers and builders know this." Henrybuilt continues to seek clarity in their designs with a new collection of materials that includes "more traditional and rustic options designed to work with a wide variety of architectural styles - think craftsman, townhouses, bungalows etc." Hopefully I'll be visiting Seattle soon, and I'll be stopping into Henrybuilt, and seeing the production firsthand. Thanks Scott and Lisa. - David John
Henrybuilt was founded in 2001 to
create the first American kitchen ‘system’. Our primary goal is to
produce the best kitchen and whole house furniture and storage systems
in the world, based on an ideal combination of system development,
customization, craft quality and design service. The company
operates showrooms in Seattle and New York, an office in Los Angeles, as
well as a 40,000 square foot engineering and manufacturing facility in
Seattle."
"Reclaimed douglas fir fronts wrapped in Paperstone."
"My mother collected Shaker furniture. And my whole family’s farm-based aesthetic was based on function. That’s not to say my grandfather’s work was ‘beautiful’ in a traditional design sense. It was pretty plain. He had a little different orientation to what he was doing than I do. He never would have fussed so much over the ‘beauty’ part. For me, when a thing is distilled in its form, it takes on a dignity that can be out of proportion – in a good and surprising way – with what you would expect a physical object to be able to represent. That is why I am doing this. Because when you achieve that you’ve really done something for someone. But it’s a process. You just have to keep working on it. It took me 20 years of building and designing things before I felt like I could make anything really worth building a business around. So I am slow. "
"Textured solid surface patterns in Paperstone (black) and solid surface (white)."
"An accessory set for a ‘quickdraw’ cooking tool drawer. It’s part of a modular drawer organization system that allows the cook to optimize every aspect of storage in the kitchen."
"A shaped front with a reclaimed douglas fir wrap. White 1/2” solid surface counter top.
A textured paperstone panel with a linear pattern."
"Solid tongue and groove fronts in Walnut.
Textured Paperstone backsplash panel in a linear pattern."
"Material selection is very important. Every material has a character. Some better than others for certain things. Most people’s tendency is to isolate materials, though. Really they are only good or bad based on what they are combined with and what they are doing. All good designers and builders know this. But getting this across to others – others who are your clients – can be very challenging. Its not easy to project what a combination of materials will feel like, and its very easy to be seduced by a small piece of stone or wood that in large doses will be all wrong." - Scott Hudson
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