sam maloof

 

I stumbled upon this video about Sam Maloof's shop. It's interesting to think about how craftspeople arrive at a way of making things out of necessity or through the tools they have access to or have knowledge of. The organic way of shaping wood was of particular interest to me. 

I have long been interested in the subtractive process. When I made my first pizza cutters I was really drawn to the stock removal process using my homemade belt grinders. Even as I am making brackets and things for the FJ40 I love the process of cutting a shape and then sculpting the form. The angle grinder, die grinder, files, and abrasives are just simply AMAZING tools. It's no wonder that they have stood the test of time as tools that humanity keeps coming back to and that have evolved over time. There is a sense of soul that is present in a piece that has been sculpted by hand. It's interesting to think that some of the early methods I used for making things were exactly the right tools or processes to be using. I say that it's interesting, because sometimes as a young maker, I kept thinking that I "needed" the next expensive tool or I needed to learn the "next" process that would make life easier or make the making faster. How naive of me.

I sometimes wonder if exploring some of those earlier processes of making but with new acquired knowledge is a worth while pursuit? 

From this video I think that I am understanding that Sam Maloof stayed within a process of making but thoroughly explored the depths of that process and made subtle adjustments to his designs. I feel that I am sometime too all over the place or maybe I have been influenced by a world encourages us to diversify or to jump to "next new thing".  It's not too often that people really spend an in-depth length of time exploring form and process. 

This video also inspires me to think about craft practice, function, design, and work ethic. I need to dig into this more.

Sidenote: The small scale model of the table is worth the wait of watching the entire video.