Phillip Keefe

Phillip Keefe is tradi­tional hand-tool wood­worker currently based in Chicago, IL. He was intro­duced to wood­work­ing at a very young age by his father, a hobby­ist who built Queen Anne-style furni­ture in an old country work­shop. Phillip was never a formal student of the craft. He began a self-guided educa­tion through books and museum exhi­bi­tions and ulti­mately embraced the pre-indus­trial methods that guide his work today. While he main­tains a stub­born fidelity to the tradi­tional ways of the craft, his aesthetic is clearly influ­enced by modern sensi­bil­i­ties. He consid­ers himself a contem­po­rary furni­ture designer and constantly chal­lenges the way we regis­ter furni­ture in our day-to-day lives: not just as objects of utility, but as a means of creative expression.