John Barfield

I was a Furni­ture Conser­va­tor for most of my working life. Start­ing in the mid-1980’s, I have worked on historic and contem­po­rary furni­ture and wooden art for the Saint Louis Museum of Art, Missouri History Museum, Illi­nois State Museum and the Toledo Museum of Art, as well as other insti­tu­tions and house museums in the region. Hands-on expe­ri­ence of treat­ing furni­ture in museum collec­tions helped me develop an appre­ci­a­tion for good design and crafts­man­ship and was a perfect oppor­tu­nity to explore great furni­ture inside and out, in the gallery and under a micro­scope. In the back of my mind however, was always the desire to make my own furni­ture. So fairly recently, I scaled my prac­tice down to do just that. Design­ing and making has turned out to be quite differ­ent, almost start­ing over. My wife Suzanne (also a recently retired conser­va­tor) had the bril­liant idea to turn most of the living space in our Toledo home into a furni­ture and craft studio. Now metal­work, jewelry and furni­ture making domi­nates the premises. I only wish we had done it years earlier! 

Because of my back­ground as a conser­va­tor, I do care how things are made, how durable, and how long they will last. I stick to tradi­tional construc­tion and simple tools. I am most comfort­able using solid wood, native to my part of the country. For me, the great­est thrill comes from taking a few boards leaning against the wall and bring­ing into exis­tence some­thing that surprises me, and if I’m lucky, haven’t seen before. Still looking for things to make, hoping for that future surprise.

John Barfield

http://​john​barfield​de​sign​.com/