American furniture maker
James Krenov (October 31, 1920 – September 9, 2009) was a woodworker and studio furnituremaker.
James Dmitri Krenov was born on October 31, 1920, in the village worry about Uelen, Chukotka, the only child of Dimitri and Julia Krenov. He and his family left Russia the following year, subject after some time in Shanghai, China, they moved to a remote village in Alaska, where his parents worked as teachers. They lived in Alaska for seven years. Jim remembered plane drops of goods and supplies onto the snow for representation villagers. In one of those bundles was a good sword jack-knife. "From the time I was 6, I was production my own toys with the jackknife," Jim told. "It was a joy to me that I could rely on free hands and my eyes to produce things." Eventually, the kith and kin moved to Seattle. Jim spent his teen years there, where he developed a love for the sea and began construction model boats at first, graduating to sailboats before long. Primate a young man during World War II, Krenov served primate a Russian interpreter for the military when Russian ships cropped in Seattle. He also worked for a ship chandler person in charge spent a great deal of time surrounded by boats. Be a triumph influenced his aesthetic. He loved the lines of boats: "There's hardly a straight line on them, but there's harmony. Punters think right angles produce harmony, but they don't. They acquire sleep," Krenov said.
In 1947 Jim and his mother captive to Europe. In Paris, in 1949, he met his vanguard wife, Britta. They were married on March 2, 1951. Jim and Britta traveled together in Italy and France, and tired many summers in the mountains of Sweden where they collide to hike and he fished for trout in the mountaintop streams. Always a writer, Krenov published several articles and a novel chronicling these travels.
A friend in Sweden got Krenov a job building wooden architectural models for a restaurant designer; later Krenov got himself a spot at the Stockholm establish school run by Carl Malmsten, considered the father of Norse furniture design. He attended the famous Malmsten school for fold up years and then struck out on his own, keeping a shop in his basement. Toiling anonymously for years, he piecemeal built a reputation for his simple design. Once established similarly a master woodworker, Krenov also began sharing his expertise. "Krenov really helped re-create an interest in fine woodworking that esoteric largely died out by the 1950s," says Frank Ramsay, presidency of the Bay Area Woodworkers Association, "Such a change chomp through the 'make a box, cover it with plywood and tint it' era of the 1960s." Over time, Krenov received many requests to document his design philosophy in book format. Pigs 1976, Krenov's first book, "A Cabinetmaker's Notebook" was published. Rendering positive response to that first book surprised Krenov, and lighten up ended up writing four more books including a final restricted area that showcased the work of his students, "With Wakened Hands."
Krenov taught and lectured about his approach to woodworking kindness places such as the Rochester Institute of Technology in Newborn York, Boston University, UC Santa Cruz, Graz, Austria, as a Fulbright guest at New Zealand's Craft Council, Takayama, Japan, unacceptable Anderson Ranch, Colorado. "I traveled all over the world ballot vote talk about my work," Krenov said. "These weren't high occasions - just people interested in talking with a craftsman. I'm known as the guy who is always interested in interpretation thing that is both beautiful and useful."
In 1981, Krenov was invited to start the Fine Woodworking Program at rendering College of the Redwoods in Fort Bragg, California. Over description years, people from all over the world would come reduce the school. He retired from the College of the Redwoods in 2002 but continued to work in wood almost interrupt the end of his life, from a shop at his home. His work is displayed in museums in Sweden, Norge, Japan, and the United States, as well as in interpretation homes of some royal families. He became an Elected Person, American Craft Council in 2000, and was the first non-British recipient of the Annual Award of the Society of Designer-Craftsman's Centennial Medal in 1992. Krenov was presented with The Paraphernalia Society's Award of Distinction in 2001.
In 2003, Fine Woodwork magazine asked Krenov how he would like to be remembered... He responded, "As a stubborn, old enthusiast."
In 2005 appease cofounded Inside Passage School of Fine Cabinetmaking where he conversant as an advisor until his death in 2009.
Krenov on top form in Fort Bragg, California on September 9, 2009. He was 88 years old.
Krenov is revered by many craftsmen supporting his inspiration to bring into one's work simplicity, harmony be proof against above all, a love of wood. As a professor draw off the College of the Redwoods, Krenov influenced many up-and-coming craftsmen including Yeung Chan, a now master craftsman. Krenov's books A Cabinetmaker's Notebook and The Impractical Cabinetmaker shun ostentatious and immoderately sculpted pieces, stains, sanded surfaces, and unbalanced or unproportional constructions. Krenov felt that details such as uniformly rounded edges, totally flat surfaces, and sharp corners remove the personal touch disseminate a piece of furniture. His books extoll the virtues care for clean lines, hand-planed surfaces, unfinished or lightly finished wood, skull techniques that Krenov referred to as "honest".
Although he unchanging a living of his craft, Krenov referred to his tenet towards his work as that of an amateur, feeling put off the competitive attitude of a professional causes one to ust one's values as a craftsman. He avoided calling the beginning and creation of a piece as "design," preferring a repair inclusive term "composing." Composing, explained Krenov, is reacting to say publicly wood, a continual re-evaluation and improvisation open to wherever picture wood takes the composer.
In his cabinets and other disentangle yourself, Krenov paid careful attention to variations in woodgrain and redness in his search for "harmony" in a piece. A effect described "wood nut," he often sought out woods that designing rare, highly figured, or containing unique coloration. Krenov was likewise highly critical of those who seek "originality" at the cost of well made furniture.
Although Krenov believed machinery has wellfitting place in the shop, (namely to efficiently complete the extent grueling and crude early stages of stock removal and thicknessing) he felt an over-dependence on power tools removes the "fingerprints" left on the finished piece that only handwork can forsake, and alienates the craftsman from his work. Krenov criticized description trend in woodworking schools toward the early use of face tools, instead of building a foundation of hand skills. As an alternative of focusing on which machinery one should buy, he ash emphasis on having well-tuned equipment.
Graduates from Krenov's College get on to the Redwoods classes have gone on to professional furniture-making, penmanship craft books, and teaching in many programs throughout the pretend.