Featured Member: John Spivey

We caught up with John to hear more about his back­ground and inter­ests within the furniture field.

Tell us a little about your­self — where you’re based and how you got started making furniture.

I’m a studio furni­ture maker and writer in Santa Barbara, CA, where I live with my
ceramic sculp­tor wife. I started making furni­ture in 1958 in junior high and have loved
hard­woods since then. I received a degree in math then alter­nated teach­ing school with being a finish carpen­ter and cabi­net­maker, with some forays into making a little furni­ture. Twenty years ago, I serendip­i­tously ran into Sam Maloof, and the encounter made me realize I had to jump into my dream of making furni­ture of my own design before it was too late.

What inspires your work? Who are some of your inspi­ra­tions for furniture making?

I am inspired by the move­ment of line, like a tree branch or ridge­line, espe­cially as
repre­sented in sumi‑e paint­ing. I initially designed my work to appear as zen brush­strokes and I repre­sent my work as being lyrical mini­mal­ism or lyrical zen. I try to approach the wood without arti­fice or too much embell­ish­ment and treat the wood with great respect. My designs have to hold the wood aloft in rever­ence. I treat the process as a means to approach the deeper meaning of life, an approach to joy. The book I’m presently writing explores this process of depth and meaning in detail.

I have been inspired by the obvious godfa­thers of studio furni­ture — Krenov, Nakashima,
Maloof — espe­cially for their deep love of wood itself. Though influ­enced by them, their work also inspired me to find my own voice and expres­sion.

What does being a member of The Furni­ture Society mean to you?

Being a member means being a part of a larger commu­nity, espe­cially one in which I
might be able to gain a voice for the path I follow in this art.

Tell us about your preferred way of connect­ing with clients and customers.

I have a mixture of approaches. I have an online pres­ence, but also have appeared in
national craft shows like the ACC shows, the Smith­son­ian Craft Show, and the Philadel­phia Museum of Art Craft Show. Sadly, I have had to curtail exhibit­ing on the East Coast due to the extreme cost of ship­ping my work. I also have had a lot of custom work for clients around the country who find me in various ways.

Do you have a specific joinery tech­nique, favorite tool, or favorite wood that you like? Why?

My work is a hybrid of both hand and machine tech­niques. I will hand cut some
dove­tails, but the large dove­tails on my cloud series are done on a bandsaw. My favorite tool is the spoke­shave. When I break out the spoke­shave, the work begins to take on life. It is the means by which I draw in the detail that iden­ti­fies my work. Apart from square edges, none of my edges are machine made. Rounded edges fade in radius and surfaces swell and belly, all shaped by hand. These details are diffi­cult to photo­graph, so people are always surprised and pleased by the varying shapes and coun­ter­points when they see it in person.
Most of my work is done in domes­tic maple, walnut, or cherry. Not only are the woods
pleas­ing to see and work with, they are far more sustain­able and avail­able than exotic species.

Check out John’s profile page and website.