The Serpentine Wall
The climbable Serpentine Wall.
I am working with two amazing clients in Chicago to design several art pieces, including an entire two-story wall of…get this…climbable shelving, a custom curving stair railing, a modular vanity base unit, and two sliding doors. One of the doors runs on a curved wall, so it will be curved. Both doors will incorporate multi-colored cast glass art pieces that I will design and create.
The entire two-story wall (pictured) has shelving that came with one request–that it be climbable! I haven’t had this much design fun in a long time! I can’t wait to climb the green cheese posts! -Nathan
Design Biography: Ann St. John, Bloomington, IN
The design story of client, Ann St. John, begins with an act of whimsy. “I was at a wedding and there was a gorgeous archway,” the Bloomington, Indiana, native recalls. When a friend told her that a local musician had made the archway, her curiosity was peaked. “I said to myself, “The guy who made this archway is a pianist?” and I just had to find out more.” St. John went on to commission Nathan for her own rose-draped garden archway, a garden gate, and “a number of things perfectly done,” she says.
An Italian olive wood dining table from St. John's home.
“We just kept ramping it up,” says St. John. I asked him to make bunk beds and gave him free-reign on the design. “Nathan looks at my space, interviews me to figure out what works, and he looks at wood and makes suggestions. He most definitely comes up with ideas. He interviews well, he designs well, and he takes feedback well. I know what I like and he knows what I like, and I am not an easy client!”
A Room of One's Own: Child's Bunk Bed
During the designing of the unique bunk beds, a special project designed for St. John’s grandchildren, St. John reached another design realization. “Nathan is not fast, which drives me crazy. On a scale from 1 to 10, I’m a 25 and he’s a 2,” she laughs, “but Nathan told me that if I wanted a bunk bed from Lowe’s, I should go to Lowe’s and buy a bunk bed.”
St. John’s next design project was anything but whimsical and it was deeply personal. When St.John’s twenty-eight-year-old son lost his battle with lymphoma, she decided that she would like to create an heirloom quality remembrance of him, both for she and her husband, as well as for her other three children and their children. “I wanted four keepsakes made from one piece of exquisite wood,” she states. Nathan went on to create a keepsake box where St. John could treasure personal memories of her son. In addition, Nathan created three small rocking chairs from the same wood as the hand-crafted box, which will eventually be given to St. John’s grandchildren. Says St. John, “It takes a real craftsman to do the kind of work he does and a real gem to do what he did to the keepsake box and rockers.”
The owner of St. John Associates, a physician recruiting company whose headquarters are in the heart of the funky college town of Bloomington, St. John’snext design story involved adding quality and innovation to her office space. “Nathan and I had been working together for a long time,” she recalls, “and one day he took some time to just walk around my space, which is pretty, and he presented me with ideas in which to improve it.” The ensuing conference table is a one-of-a-kind showstopper to visiting clientele. An additional two-person, circular meeting table was added to St. John’s personal office.
The "Three Worlds Conference Table"
St. John’s design story is one that has tremendously affected the personal and the professional. Her choices, like her, are uncompromising, strong, and unique, with more than a pinch of personal flare. “The real value that Nathan brings to my life,” she says, “is his ability to really look at my space, whether at home or at the office, and make it beautiful. If you let him do that, you’ll have an awesome product.”
The "Padauk" coffee table from St. John's personal office.
One Of A Kind Show, Here I Come
As usual I am working through the very last night to get everything right before heading to Chicago for the One Of A Kind show. The show is held at the Merchandise Mart Dec 1-4. I will be in booth 8-3015 showing several exciting new pieces, including the “Bubble” media console. I hope to see you there!
The new "Bubble" media console fresh from the finish room in my studio.
The Greener the Better
The furniture and design industry, while genuine in its effort to green its practices, is clearly overly laden with earth-friendly lingo. I’m determined to be as environmentally conscience as possible but I’m also determined to be authentic. I don’t want to simply “green-wash” my work when I describe it to my clients.
A few real facts about my studio include that every stage in the construction process is designed to reduce material waste. This has become a more successful endeavor each season. I compare this to my family’s adventures in composting. For my firstborn son, composting was at first a delightfully gross adventure to the composting box in the forest behind our yard. By the time my daughter was born, composting was not exotic for us. And aside from the occasional debate about whose turn it is to pile the scraps and make the long journey out to the heap, I can happily report that neither child now considers composting an option — it’s a fun, albeit smelly, routine. It’s a small step toward greening our lives, but it is a step all the same.
My oldest children, Eli and Ali, keeping it green.
In terms of finish, I typically use a combination of shellac for color and water-based conversion varnish for durability. The shellac that I use is actually hypoallergenic, non-toxic, and completely renewable. In fact, shellac is so safe it is used as a food glaze. My conversion-varnish is “no VOC,” meaning, “no volatile organic compounds,” and does not produce toxic gasses in the home as it cures.
Most importantly to me, each piece crafted at Hunter Design is an heirloom piece of art. The most durable construction processes are used to ensure that the piece will be used for many decades and by many owners—not simply discarded and replaced. In my opinion, this is one of the most sustainable aspects of my work. And with options in sustainable wood and other materials constantly on the rise, improvements are always being made. So that footprint we’re all talking about? It actually is becoming lighter.
Designed for longevity
Mesa Hall Table
Here is one beautiful example of how clients are using the Mesa hall table. Isn’t this a gorgeous entryway?
I was lucky enough to be able to deliver this table in person, which was a real treat. The house is in a tiny coastal community on the Maryland shore. Pulling into the driveway at sundown I thought “do I really get paid for this?”
Our story – your story
Putting the finishing touches on a Gazelle dining chair
There is a story that is attached to each piece of handmade, functional art created at Nathan Hunter Design. It is a story told by each curve, each line, each meticulously selected wood combination. Nathan’s own story is about his quest to combine his musical training with his sensibilities as a visual artist creating functional art furniture. As a piano student at the prestigious Indiana University School of Music, Nathan would strike fingers to keys, shaping the music visually in his mind. Now he works to bring that musical lyicism and balance into his designs. To him, sight, sound, and touch are all pieces of the same artistic impulse.
The Trapezoid coffee table is a perfect example of Nathan’s visual representation of music, where the lyricism of line reflects musical phrasing.
And if music is the story behind his own handmade furniture designs, there are individual voices behind our clients and their homes. We want to tell the story of these people who have entrusted Nathan to create the perfect piece for their own vision, purpose, or space. Clients of Nathan Hunter Design reject the banal task of purchasing mass-produced furniture. They’ve got something else in mind — an heirloom, a creative edge…the unexpected. They are not merely filling space in their homes, they are creating a story. The Nathan Hunter Design team invites you to check-in with us regularly. And we’d like to know…how will your design story unfold?
Nathan Hunter's Trapezoid coffee table --- a nod to the iconic design by Isamu Noguchi. Room design by Schaper Associates Interior Design -- http://www.schaperassociates.net
