The Custom Furniture Sourcebook: A Guide to 125 Craftsmen (Paperback)

by Kerry Pierce (Author) "IS THE PURCHASE of good custom furniture worth the effort?..." (more)
Key Phrases: using traditional joinery, available shipper, crating charge, Home Furniture, Fine Woodworking, The Taunton Press (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Whether you are a homeowner seeking inspiration, an interior decorator seeking information, or a woodworker seeking direction, these crafters' profiles (mostly well-produced photographs) should meet all your needs. Featured here are some of the small shops that could be next door or down the road but might be overlooked in a headlong rush to the better-known (or better-advertised) shops. Pierce, a woodworker for more than 20 years and author of three other volumes, succeeds mightily here. In an introduction, a short primer, and then the alphabetical presentation of the shops, these profiles represent some of the best craft available in the United States today. Pieces are titled, woods described, contact information provided, and deposit and shipping information given. Additionally and significantly, Pierce has made considerable effort to index the craftsmen by area and style, a rare but useful inclusion. Taunton, long known for its fine books in this area, scores another hit here. A joy to behold; recommended. Alex Hartmann, INFOPHILE, Williamsport, PA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
Sitting down to a custom-built dining table, or storing linens in a truly unique armoire…it's a dream for people who embrace quality and custom woodworking. But if you don't have the skills, tools, or time to make it yourself, where can you get it? This book will answer any questions a reader may have about purchasing and/or commissioning custom pieces. It tells where to find furniture and how much one can expect to pay for it. The 125 furniture makers listed were chosen by an independent jury of some of the country's top craftsmen. This is a truly unique reference book for anyone interested in bringing beautiful, one-of-a-kind furnishings into their homes. It has more than 500 photos showcasing beautiful pieces of furniture, includes details about each maker's work and contact information, and is indexed by geographic location, type of furniture, and maker.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Taunton; illustrated edition edition (September 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561584312
• ISBN-13: 978-1561584314
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #350,095 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #84 in	Books > Home & Garden > How-to & Home Improvements > Furniture
  #84 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Design & Decorative Arts > Furniture Design

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very inspiring to my own work!, December 3, 2001

By	Jeffrey C. Albro (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

(I looked over this book in the store, and hope to get it for Christmas)

Lots of great pictures! If you are a long time Fine Woodworking reader you will recognize many of them. However, you notice other nuances when they are placed with unseen pictures of the craftsman's other work.

The wide variety of styles is very useful for forming your own sense of design and proportion. You see traces of James Krenov's style on many pages. I found it more useful and inspiring than Taunton's Design Book series.

If you were looking to hire somone to make you a custom piece I suspect this book would be quite a help, but I'm looking at it as more of a survey of current work. I plan to use it to help refine where I want to go with my own furniture design and woodworking.

-Jeff

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful !, April 19, 2002

By	Kelley Hunt (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I love this book. It is filled with beautiful, unique pieces of furniture. There are a few extreme designs, but most of the pieces you could imagine having in your own home. All of the pictures are in color and a good size so you can see the details clearly. Besides giving the names and postal addresses of the craftsmen, the author also furnishes websites and email addresses for many of them. In the back there is a regional index and a style index which are both very useful. Even though this book is paperback, I think it would make a great coffee table book because every aspect of it is beautifully designed; the text, the photographs and the layout.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Stunning, June 21, 2004

By	Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

This is the perfect present to give someone who thinks that the art of making fine furniture is a dying one. In it are representative works by 125 of our finest craftsfolk. Here you will find artists who extends styles which have become timeless without ever being imitative (Robert Stevenson and Jeffrey Greene), woodworkers who are intent in opening new avenues of creativity (Tom Hobgood and Christoph Neander), and every variation in between. And each and every one is a master of the craft.

In a sense, this is a puff book - created to facilitate the contact between the artist and the knowledgeable consumer. Each furniture maker gets two beautifully printed pages to present their work and their ideas. Not very much room, when you think of it. Reading the book is like spending a day at the very best custom furniture show in the world. And like a good show, the submissions were juried by a panel to ensure that promotional or not, the contents were the genuine article.

I bought the book to look for some ideas for furniture - not to buy, but to build. If I look too long I get a bit depressed as I realize how much more skilled these makers are than I am. But it is an inspiration, and, eventually, it helped me make what I wanted to do a bit finer in concept. If you love to look at fine things, or are one of the fortunate who can look forward to having them, this book is a homage to artistry that is a combination of great imagination and the skill to execute it.