Forage Modern Workshop Spring/Summer Look Book 2013

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Forage Modern Workshop Spring/Summer 2013

www.foragemodernworkshop.com 4023 East Lake Street, Minneapolis Open Daily 10am - 8pm


Forage Modern Workshop believes that our homes should reflect our unique personalities and are the physical representation of our story, filled with both old and new furniture and decor, gifts from friends and items we saved for months to buy, pictures of our past and spaces where we invite friends and family to gather. Our homes should be beautiful, because our stories are beautiful. Just like the local food movement, as consumers we should have a connection with the people who make our belongings.

Photographer: Sarah Kieffer www.thevanillabeanblog.com Graphic Design: Brittany Pool www.brittanypool.com Copy Editing: Joshua Cook www.joshuaphilipcook.com Special Thanks: Rachel Billstein

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Longing for Stories All of the sudden, we’re living in the digital age; in a digital age where people demand that their apples aren’t procured with chemicals or concocted from lab-rat leftover; in the stone age where we’re learning—through all the articles on the internet about how to—why to—where to—to trust our instincts; in the depression where we’re empowering machines and dismissing the good and hard-earned muscle of a foreman; in the woods, the cemented wood where new condos are erected above account executives that will never notice the foundation or the finished product; we’re living in the built-up box, layered with soundproof padding, and we’re testing out the latest headphones; living, we’re living, we’re living? Longing for stories to connect us to the soil; for something more substantial than a signature from the UPS delivery guy; for the girl with a blowtorch and incision tool who makes our necklaces; for the guy with eight o’clock shadow and the forever-callused hands who sands, stains, and finishes our coffee tables; for the handwritten note from the grandmother of fifteen, who grew up next to a loom in a small village outside Mumbai, and weaved what we now wear on our backs; we long, not just for the end, but the beginning, and the middle, and all the plot points in all their intricate and painstaking and irreplaceable beauty.

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Omforme Honing in on his design and craftsmanship, Carter Averbeck began Omforme as an alternative to the highly consumptive, rapidly disposable consumer climate that we have come to accept as standard. Norwegian for “transform,” Omforme is a furniture rescue and redesign initiative that takes secondhand articles of furniture that would otherwise be added to the ranks of our overfilled landfills and upcycles them into one of a kind statement pieces. Coming from a professional background in interior design and European fresco, Carter approaches abandoned pieces with a reverence for their history. Invigorated by the real challenge of transforming one man’s trash into another’s treasure, he scavenges garage sales, thrift stores and Craigslist for potential skeletons. By applying radiant finishes and fantastically patterned fabrics to tired frames, Carter—aka Captain Planet (he’s our hero!)—revives classics, takes creative risks and sets new trends. “Also shown in photo: Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman circa early 1960s”

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Wind & Willow What began as a quest to round out her personal collection of cooking utensils with a thoughtfully designed mixing spoon sparked interest and soon gave way to Wind and Willow, Araya’s line of custom-colored, hand-dipped spoons, bowls, treasure pots, planters and candle cups. Starting with bare turned wood utensils and housewares, Araya Jensen’s signature design involves dipping each of her products into custom mixed synthetic rubber. The combination of natural wood and rubber playfully showcases the contrast in material and texture, and the handmade process ensures that each product is unique. Araya draws inspiration from a lifelong love affair with nature, particularly with the pronounced seasons that we see here in the Midwest. When you learn of Araya’s North Shore childhood and Twin Cities coming of age, it seems the story’s no longer in the soil; it’s in the spoon. “Also shown in photo: Bend Ethel Stools, Britta Sweden Rug, Vintage Industrial Table”

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Minneapolis Joinery Patrick Simpson of Minneapolis Joinery uses a wood panel cutting machine to apply chaotic linework to the naked canvas board bases of his paintings. Smooth cuts snake and intersect, artfully dividing the canvas and creating a network of lines as suggestive of cartography as they are of Mondrian’s paintings or Picasso’s line drawings. Interested in the interface of the digital and the real, Patrick enjoys the juxtaposition of technology and tradition, and he uses oils and acrylics to give color to his wood panels. Patrick favors limited palettes with complementary colors and soft gradations. “With the chaos of the lines, my color choices are meant to instill the work with peace.” And we say, “Amen.” “Also shown in photo: Rapson-Inc.© Rapson Rapid Rocker, CoMod Side Table, Vintage Cheese Plate”

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Ethnotek Josh Linde of Ethnotek recollects the first time that he and Orak traveled to Ho Chi Minh City, now the company’s manufacturing base. The vibrancy of the open air market, where he observed people going about their routines, buying produce from the usual open air vendors with a bag thrown over their shoulder and coffee or a cup of soup in hand. Inspired by this energetic intersection of community and commerce missing from today’s culture of overconsumption, Josh is proud to be a part of an initiative that makes cultural fabrics accessible worldwide while sustaining local markets. Co-founders Jake Orak and Josh Linde are local designers and avid travelers who decided to start Ethnotek in an effort to partner with textile artisans based in Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia and Vietnam to produce customizable, technology compatible and travel-ready backpacks, messenger bags and iPad sleeves representing an array of cultures. Jake and Josh refer to partners, consumers, followers and fans of Ethnotek as the “tribe,” a term that succinctly represents their company, which is all about people celebrating and sharing culture across continents. “Also shown in photo: OCD Pix Side Table, Vintage Globe”

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OCD Furniture Bringing diverse cultural and geographic backgrounds, but similar aesthetic expectations to the studio, Patrick and Kfir make the perfect creative duo. While Patrick, a Minneapolis native and Kfir, born and raised in Isreal, share the belief that furniture should be “simple, minimal and functional,” they certainly have not fallen prey to a prescribed model of what furniture by that description should look like. You’re familiar with the expression “think outside the box?” Well, you might say that Patrick and Kfir enjoy taking the box apart, considering its function, redesigning the box to satisfy new and interesting materials, and then sustainably reconstructing it. “Also shown in photo: Gus Modern Carmichael Chair, Britta Sweden Rug”

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Eastvold Furniture “The same piece of Eastvold furniture might serve one generation as a yarn center, the next as a stereo cabinet, and the next as an infant’s changing table”. Matt Eastvold of Eastvold Furniture designs and handcrafts solid wood casegoods rooted in Mid-Century Modern tradition, paying tribute to clean, simple case design by using sustainable, locally harvested walnut and white oak wood. Raised on a rural farm in Minnesota and introduced to welding by his father, Matt took an early interest in woodwork and metal fabrication, and has embraced new technology with the advent of his Elko line, which complements classic, solid wooden cases with lasercut steel bases in a variety of bold color options. You can recognize an Eastvold piece by its precision, symmetry, absence of hardware or ornamentation, clean case lines, plain miter joinery and, of course, by its personalized tag. “Also shown in photo: Loll Designs Rapson Rocker”

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Squared Furniture Because Squared Furniture is all about delivering products designed for functionality, and because they are such hospitable neighbors, (this is Minnesota, after all) Chris and Jessica offer customization in size, color and material for virtually all their products. They even go so far as to invite potential clients to pitch ideas of their own. Squared prides itself on offering simple, functional solutions with cleanly designed and precisely built cases made to serve in a variety of contexts (say that ten times fast). Their newly introduced Quotidian line features open-structured storage cases that accentuate the craft and the quality materials. Every Squared Furniture piece exudes a timeless air and elicits familiarity and comfort with glorified, Mid-Century modern, form-follows-function style. Classy as a dark chocolate tort, hold the whip.

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Ross Stangler Attracted to clean lines, simplicity, and smart design, Ross Stangler is a Midwesterner through and through. When we asked him to describe his aesthetic, Ross replied first with, “Lumberjack,” and then added, “with refined taste.” His cunning “Not a Log” Table testifies to this. Its medium density, fiberboard top is shaped to resemble a slab of wood. But it didn’t stop there. It was then primed, painted and polished at an auto body shop and finished with inlaid wood butterfly joints. Expanding upon the now resurgent trend in furniture design that is the allure of raw, natural wood that looks untampered with, Ross playfully supplements MDF as an ecofriendly, affordable and accessible alternative to solid wood and dresses it up in it’s Mercedes-Benz best. “Also shown in photo: Eames DCM Chairs circa early 1960s”

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Brittany Pool Brittany often cooks as a means of inspiration, valuing simple pairings and purity of flavor. “I want the finished product to support handmade food by offering a rich, tactile quality,” Brittany says, alluding to the cultural shift of story-enriched consuming. Brittany scales her technique and production methods to create highly relatable, tabletop objects. Small batches counter mass production: she uses raw materials—unpainted, minimally treated, rare and imbued with sensuality. Her earthenware, bronzeware, and glassware indicate the fluid shapes of the natural world, imperfect forms with organic origin. Brittany recently graduated from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, and her work has been featured in galleries and stores across the United States. “Also shown in photo: Vintage Svegards Markayard Sweden Dining Table and Chairs”

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Tandem Made Inseparable in the workshop as they are in their married life, Nate and Erin Moren are the wedded co-owners of Tandem Made, a design and build studio committed to smart design and innovative craftsmanship of consumer products and custom commission work. They boast an eclectic medley of seating and tables, sculpture, cabinetry and household accessories. Connection, sustainability, experimentation, and problem solving: it’s all there, wrapped up in their love-sweet collaborations, from the “Topographic Rocker” made of masonite and plywood, to those pendant lights that hang like miniature homages to the Weisman Art Meseum. “Also shown in photo: Le Corbusier Sofa by Baxton Studios”

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Bryan Grose Raised in Detroit and fathered by a man who made his wages as a factory worker and painted in his spare time, Bryan Grose is an artist who has spent a lifetime creating within an anomalous space, painting with insight into typically divergent lifestyles. He is a clinical prosthetist by profession, fitting patients with medical support devices. Where the real meets the man-made: it’s no wonder that Bryan describes his painting as a balance between realism and abstractionism. “My work is a digestion of my travels and the relationships that have shaped my life”. And just in case need another point of contrast, his favorite dishes are fish ‘n’ chips and Scottish porridge with apples, cinnamon and almond milk. “Also shown in photo: Molecule Table by Solv, Le Corbusier Lounge by Baxton Studio”

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Willie Willette Willie Willette enjoys being a “maker”. Heading an expert crew of woodcrafters out of a 5,700 square foot workshop in Minneapolis, Willette boasts seventeen strong years in the furniture design business. He credits the beginning of his career in design and fabrication to his humble start as an exhibition crew member at both the Walker Art Center and the Children’s Museum of Minnesota. It was here that he learned to produce under the constraints of curators and artists. Willette and his team design, fabricate, deliver and install custom, site-specific interiors, and are willing to work with virtually any material so long as they can make it in their own style.

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West Cermak The name West Cermak comes from the street where Trinh spent her youthful summers working alongside her grandparents at their familyowned oriental food and Chinese herbal store in Chicago. Both Trinh Mai and Jeff Nelson live and work in Minneapolis, combining their talents for bookmaking and screen printing to create personal sized, handbound and hand-printed notepads, journals and art prints. It’s inspiration in miniatures: a place ZVV that antsy idea itching to be v on that tiny notebook in your back pocket, and it’s hardly a surprise that Trinh and Jeff value workmanship for all of its community fortifying powers. “Also shown in photo: Eastvold for Forage Modern Workshop Desk”

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Larissa Loden Each Larissa Loden original is made from recycled components found at flea markets and antique shows. While her collections range in theme from entomology to cartography to classic cameos, Larissa consistently designs nuanced pieces that re-present vintage. Larissa approaches every locket, charm and chain with keen eye, drawing parallels between rich histories and present trends, recognizing generative potential in decades-old artifacts, substantiating the Heraclitian adage that “no man ever steps in the same river twice.� Her preferred materials date from the 1920s to the 1950s. Other pieces incorporate non-traditional materials from life, such as pages torn from an atlas or a vintage children’s book.

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About Forage Modern Workshop Forage Modern Workshop was formed out of a desire to provide a community where customers become friends, the competition becomes partners, and shopping becomes a movement. Every person has a story to tell and adds value to our community; our homes and furniture should do the same. We love the Midwest and Good Design. The four of us believe that our homes should reflect our unique personalities and are the physical representation of our story, filled with both old and new furniture and decor, gifts from friends and items we saved for months to buy, pictures of our past and spaces where we invite friends and family to gather. Our homes should be beautiful, because our stories are beautiful. We believe that work should be enjoyable. Much like the Eames Office at 901 Washington Boulevard, Forage Modern Workshop will be an idea shop; we will work to provide a space that supports young and fresh design, as well as encourages creative and entrepreneurial risks.

"Life was fun was work was fun was life." - Charles & Ray Eames 91


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