Our master craftsman, Jonathan Benson has over 30 years or experience with woodworking. He learned the art of Old World craftsmanship from the Danish Master Tage Frid at the Rhode Island School of Design. Since that time Mr. Benson has taught woodworking, cabinet making and furniture design at the college level for over 10 years. He has written two books including "Woodworker's Guide to Veneering and Inlay" and "Woodworker's Guide to Bending Wood", both for Fox Chapel Publishing. He has also written numerous magazine articles and has given workshops and seminars on various woodworking related topics across the country.

Jonathan has constructed many kitchens, hundreds of pieces of furniture and turned thousands of balusters and newel posts. Commissions have included residential, commercial and liturgical projects.

ARTISTS STATEMENT

My work incorporates bent laminations of the finest veneers from around the world, with turned burls from throughout North America. Pieces include pedestals, tables, cabinets, seating, lighting and sculpture. Pedestals are topped with fine marble and polished stone. Table tops are wood or glass. Each piece is original and one-of-a-kind.
Over the past twenty years many designers and styles have influenced my work. My first experience with furniture making came in 1976 with a job in a Santa Fe furniture shop, making Taos style furniture. After this experience I studied furniture design at Iowa State University and at the Rhode Island School of Design. During these years, influences included the furniture of Danish Modern, the Arts and Crafts Movement, Art Deco, Art Nouveau and Memphis. These varied experiences and influences gave me a strong background and a good starting point in developing my designs.

Later I decided to look to other artistic works rather than furniture design for ideas. I had always been intrigued by the geometric abstraction of Cubist and Futurist painting. My own style began to emerge as I started to incorporate ideas from these paintings into my furniture designs. Ideas from pieces that I did at this time became the elements that now make up my own style.

Recently I have become more intrigued with the material itself. I have been incorporating many types of burls and exotic woods into my designs. The contrast of the rough surface and unusual grain of the burls against the refined elements of my designs, I believe, has created some of my best work so far.