We head to America’s West Coast to find out how this award-winning designer combines traditional and modern techniques to create stunning bespoke pieces.
Woodwork runs in the family for San Diego – based Craig Thibodeau. His father always had a ’shop at the eir family home in California and the young Craig had access to a variety of standard tools – not that he used them! “I don’t recall ever working on anything when I was young,” he admits, “but I’m sure that having the early exposure to tools helped form my understanding of how to build things and influenced me enough so that even after leaving home I always found a way to have a woodshop… once it was in the living room of my apartment.”
After graduating from San Diego State University with a degree in mechanical engineering, he undertook consumer product design work while learning how to build furniture in his spare time. Eventually the sideline became more important than the day job and he switched to full-time furniture making about 16 years ago. Initially he worked from a ’shop in the backyard of his home, expanding it several times before finally taking some industrial space in San Diego, where he has been for the past seven years.
Self-taught maker
Apart from a few week-long courses on marquetry, Craig classes himself as “an essentially self-taught furniture maker” with most of his learning acquired through much trial and error and long hours spent in the workshop. The lack of formal furniture-making tuition hasn’t held him back, however. Over the years, his work has been critically acclaimed and he has won a number of awards, including several first place and Best of Show prizes at regional and national exhibitions. In particular, he says it was “a great honour” to win the grand prize at the Veneer Tech Craftsman’s Challenge in 2013 with his Art Deco table with Trompe L’oeil Interior.
Maple leaf buffet in honduran mahogany, spalted maple and maple
Drawing on history
Even self-taught makers are influenced by the designs and styles of those who have come before them, however, and in addition perhaps to subconsciously drawing on the time spent in his father’s ’shop, Craig says there are three specific people whose work has had a significant impact on his craft.
The first is Siberian-born woodworker, furniture maker and lecturer James Krenov (1920-2009) whose works grace museums in Sweden, Japan, Norway and the US. “Krenov’s books opened up to me a world of fine detailing and fine workmanship that I hadn’t realised was possible before reading them,” he says, “and his work continues to help me push higher the attention to detail I bring to my own work.”
Second up is Parisian Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann (1879-1933) whose furniture was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of New York and the Cairo Museum among others. “The Art Deco work that came out of his workshop 100 years ago is still some of the finest furniture ever made in my opinion. His use of luxurious materials and refined detailing has inspired me to include those things in my own work more and more over the years. The decorative inlay work I do now is due partly to the work of Ruhlmann.”
The last major influence on Craig’s designs is German cabinetmaker David Roentgen (1743-1807). This is apparent in his most recent mechanical work. “Roentgen’s mechanical furniture has been a great inspiration to me and has opened new avenues of complexity in my work. Seeing what he and his team were able to accomplish without the aid of modern technology has driven me to add more complex mechanical movements to my furniture when possible (and whenthe client budget allows).”
This broad spectrum of influences comes through in Craig’s work which isn’t limited to any specific design style. Instead he prefers to be open to a variety of projects and designs based on what his clients need and want in their pieces. He does add, however, that his work has “an Asian/Arts and Crafts blend of styling.” He also endeavours to incorporate a slight curvature in each piece, where appropriate, to give the work more visual interest.
Blue Ulysses sideboard and detail( below) in wenge, ash burl, maple, stone and abalone with various marquetry woods
Break with tradition
Another element Craig would like to include in his work is more reclaimed materials, but while he says there is a trend in the US for such recycling and ‘slab furniture’ it is not a style that suits the bulk of his current clientele. “I have built pieces using both of those materials in the past but they simply don’t form a large enough percentage of my workload for me to consider them sustainable. But my heavy use of commercial veneer could be considered a sustainable practice as it is the most efficient way to use the material and reduces waste significantly.”
He follows traditional working methods in veneering with nearly everything cut by hand, but after that he admits to “breaking pretty hard with tradition”, using modern glues, sheet materials and joinery in all of his work. He explains that they allow for increased productivity without any detrimental impact on the quality of the finished pieces.
He does concede, however, that there are limits to this approach. “I never use contact cement in my veneering,” he explains, “and much of the joinery still functions in the traditional way, i.e. using Dominos instead of traditionally cut mortise and tenons.” His finishing regime is also fairly modern. “I use a professional finishing shop that sprays lacquer, conversion varnish, polyester and several automotive finishes. I tend to limit the in-house finishing I do and only rarely apply an oil or shellac finish as I prefer to have it done somewhere else so as to limit my exposure to harsh chemicals. The finishing shop I use has a well-equipped spray booth with high-quality filtering.”
Asian sideboard in teak, poplar and woven bamboo
Designed for life
When it comes to the actual design of commissioned items, Craig, like the majority of furniture designer and makers, has to keep in mind the client’s requirements. But that doesn’t mean he totally hands over the reins of any project.
“I do inject as much of my influence as possible into those designs while keeping the overall design focused on the client’s vision. Occasionally I have clients who are less restrictive in the design process and allow me much more freedom in my work. These tend to be the most exploratory pieces I build and really push the limits of my work in decorative veneering and inlay.” Regardless of the design, one constant in his work is “the desire to continually push the boundaries of quality and workmanship in each new piece. I try to make each new piece I build better than the previous one, either in the quality of the design or workmanship or in the complexity of the inlay and construction.”
Given the number of pieces he has produced, does Craig have any favourite item of furniture? “I’m not sure,” he answers cautiously. “I tend to like most the piece I’m working on currently and can’t wait for finished pieces to leave the shop and get delivered to the client. One piece I do have an attachment to is the ‘Automaton Table’ that I recently completed for a local client. This piece was inspired by the furniture of Roentgen and is the most complex piece I have ever designed and built. With a variety of mechanical movements and hidden details it makes quite an impression and I was sad to let this one go. Luckily the client is letting me borrow it for an upcoming exhibition so it will be seen by a larger audience.”
Chess table in Macassar ebony, holly, bubinga and mother-of-pearl
Mechanical future
Mechanical movement is also likely to feature in Craig’s new work. “My direction involves more mechanically driven moving pieces and more complex decorative inlay. The mechanical work that I’ve started is again influenced by Roentgen, although it is very simple in comparison to what they were able to accomplish 200 years ago without CNC technology and ready access to mechanical components.
Craig’s Roentgen-inspired ‘Automatontable’ in pau ferro, maple burl, maple, ebony, mahogany and quilted maple
“I intend to continue developing the complexity of my mechanical work as time goes by. I also see myself expanding the use of exotic materials in my inlay work and pushing the boundaries of what can be done with inlays in furniture. Recently I completed a project with inlays of abalone and Ammolite, which are essentially fossilised molluscs, and there are a variety of other new materials that I would like to explore.”
Luckily, the young Craig’s apparent lack of enthusiasm for his father’s ‘standard’ workshop tools clearly hasn’t hindered his older self from combining traditional craftmanship with a thoroughly 21st-century approach.
Contact details:
Email: info@ctfinefurniture.com
Maker’s maker
“My initial interest in marquetry came after seeing the work of Paul Schürch up close in an exhibition. I followed his work for a number of years and finally took a week-long class with him to learn his marquetry methods. His teaching skill and relaxed personality truly helped me learn marquetry and develop my own skills and designs. Since then I have attempted to take my marquetry work in new directions and Paul has been highly supportive the entire time.
“Brian Newell is one of my favourite makers of custom furniture; I consider him to be the best furniture maker in the world for the past 20 years. His work is of amazing complexity and has wild flowing lines sculpted out of solid wood. I have spent quite a bit of time with Brian over the years and have seen a variety of his work in person. The compound curvature he creates is simply astounding as is his calm persona and the depth of his knowledge of the furniture field. “I consider both of these makers to be very good friends and we have had the chance to experience a variety of life events together over the years.”
Visit schurchwoodwork.com for details of Paul Schürch’s work and classes.