MACHINE SKILLS and DESIGN
Sideboard by Aled Lewis, English oak and fumed oak (63"x19"x33"), 2008
Side chair by Tim Rousseau, quartersawn black walnut and leather (19"x21"x31"), 2006
Aled Lewis & Tim Rousseau
September 21 – October 2
One of the great challenges in furniture making is to design elegant furniture that can be built efficiently. With guidance from Aled and Tim, participants advance their skills by creating modestly-scaled pieces that are designed for machine-based construction techniques. The instructors offer numerous lectures and demonstrations on design processes, and joinery and forming techniques that employ the router, tablesaw, slot mortiser, hollow-chisel mortiser, Domino, shaper, vacuum press, and other standard woodworking equipment.
Aled Lewis is the Lead Instructor for our Nine-month Comprehensive and comes to the Center from Oxford, England. He originally trained at Rycotewood College in Oxfordshire and has been a furniture maker for close to 30 years. Aled’s professional experience covers a broad span, from self-employment as a one-of-a-kind furniture maker to managing a busy high-end workshop. He has been involved in all aspects of designing and making one-off and limited production furniture for individuals and for institutional clients such as Oxford University and London-based financial companies.
Tim Rousseau divides his time between building furniture on commission in Appleton, Maine and teaching at the Center. He took our Twelve-week Intensive in 1998 and then spent two years working in a multifaceted group shop in Hoboken, New Jersey before returning to Maine to set up his own business. In 2002 and 2003 he served as the Center’s Resident Instructor, running our Workshop Program and teaching alongside of visiting faculty. Since then, he has been a lead instructor for the Twelve-week Intensive and he teaches the chair project for the Comprehensive. His furniture is shown throughout the Northeast, and he recently starred in a video workshop on www.finewoodworking.com