A recipe for skilled carpentry
- Michael builds furniture items where the structure carries the visual weight
- He makes miniature prototypes of his furniture before creating full size pieces
- His experiences as a boat builder and a chef inform his technical approach
Michael Javidi crafts sculptural furnishings in hardwood, bronze and steel in his Long Island studio. A chef turned maker, he trained at North Bennet Street School, an education he compares to French culinary school. "You learn classical techniques which are a prerequisite for anything elevated, then build on them, just as you would in a professional kitchen,” he says. Michael later spent six years restoring and building sailboats. His practice is shaped by a range of hands-on techniques learned through boat building and cabinet making, from joinery and wood turning to bending and metalwork. By applying steam bending, his hanging chair Le Nid assumes a light silhouette yet supports more than 136 kg (300 lbs). "I am not limited by what I cannot do. That is freeing in the studio. I have developed enough skills that I am confident in my abilities to make something new," he says.
INTERVIEW
At North Bennet Street, I learned the fundamentals of drafting by hand and sharpening every tool in my shop. Once you can sharpen and use any tool you own, making becomes free.
Through boat building, I learned that the impossible is possible. You are making a boat out of wood that is supposed to last a hundred years. Sailboats are a beautiful shape because that is how they function optimally. While working at North Bennet Street gave me rigid information, the boatyard taught me to push beyond it.
Early in my career I dedicated a lot of time and effort to a bad idea. That is where you grow, of course, but by making miniatures I realised I can catch problems earlier in the process. I can bring pieces home and show them to family and I can look at them from a different angle, in a different room.
Durability is a design principle for me. I use native woods, low-chemical finishes including linseed oil and beeswax, and joinery techniques that have been around for thousands of years. There is no need to improve them. I just apply them to something visually different.
