Windfall Show Installation Shots

Our Windfall show is still going strong at the Craft & Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles. Here’s a few new installation shots for you to enjoy. All the amazing details are best appreciated in person so be sure to visit and support CAFAM!

Windfall by Box Collective

Andrew Riiska

Casey Dzierlinga, Cliff Spencer

William Stranger

Stephan Roggenbuck

David Johnson

Harold Greene

Windfall by Box Collective

RH Lee & JD Sassaman

Samuel Moyer

Robert Apodaca

photos by Robert Apodaca

 

Windfall Show at CAFAM, May 28th

It’s almost here! Our exhibition at the Craft & Folk Art Museum opens at the end of the month and we hope you’ll join us. We’ve been working hard on a diverse body of work for this show, incorporating locally sourced wood from the massive storm that felled many trees throughout Los Angeles in 2011.

Windfall features new furniture and functional objects from members of the Los Angeles-based Box Collective, a group of designer-makers dedicated to creating innovative objects from reclaimed and sustainably sourced wood. The works in the exhibition were fabricated from trees that fell in northeastern Los Angeles during the historic windstorm of 2011. Ten members of the group will have works on display: Robert Apodaca, Casey Dzierlenga, Harold Greene, David Johnson, RH Lee & JD Sassaman, Samuel Moyer, Andrew Riiska, Stephan Roggenbuck, Cliff Spencer, and William Stranger.

The opening reception for Windfall by Box Collective takes place on May 28, 2016 from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. The reception is free for CAFAM members and open to the public for a $12 entry fee.

Desk Progress

It has been a busy summer for all of the BoxCo members but  some time has been made for progress on the new CAFAM front desk. Here’s a quick sneak peek as it sits in Cliff Spencer Furniture’s shop awaiting its top!

CAFAM – the before

Out with the old (desk) and in with the new…

Craft and Folk Art Museum

It’s quite rare indeed that the L.A. BoxCo gets to pool their talents and resources to produce a singular piece, together as a group. We’ve fortunately come across that opportunity with a new design for the entry desk of the Craft and Folk Art Museum across from LACMA on Wilshire. This tiny gem on Museum Row shows some really delightful exhibitions and is definitely worth a visit, especially if you’ve never been there.

Andrew Riiska taking some measurements.

The old desk is currently being demolished with all of its hardware to be repurposed for the future project. The new desk will be a perfect fit for the museum which promotes excellent design and craft, not to mention it will be made locally with sustainable methods.

So check back here to see the desk progress!

The Dunnage Show at Inheritance

LA Box Collective at AltBuild 2011

AltBuild 2011 is this weekend. Come say hello and meet members of the LA Box Collective at the Santa Monica Civic Center, this Friday and Saturday, May 6th and 7th. Admission is FREE.

The crew has big plans! Come see what we have and learn about sustainable building and remodeling resources.

Urban Logs to Flying Furniture

Okay, the furniture will not actually fly. It will all live at the Wing House, in Malibu, an amazing architectural creation by architect, David Hertz and his recycling savey client. The project already re-uses a decommissioned 747 airplane and much of the unique structures left of Tony Duquette’s estate that weren’t destroyed by fire. There are other ambitious projects as well, using other fire salvage items in the decor and landscape.

We were brought in to salvage some gorgeous urban lumber for a number of furniture pieces throughout the property, indoor and outdoor.

First, we brought in Brent Cashion, from Urban Logs to Lumber.

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Now our furniture and cabinet shop is full of some amazing lumber. All salvaged from the property or other developed land. I’ll keep posting as things progress. This is my favorite sort of project.

So Happy Together

The BoxCo Debut Exhibition has moved from AltBuild and now resides at Fifth Floor in Chinatown.  The reception will be Saturday, June 12th, from 6-9pm.  We hope to see you there!  Also, you can check out some more images of all the pieces here.

-Robert Apodaca

California Lumber Safari

What did you do this holiday weekend? We took a trip to Santa Cruz, CA to see some friends and decided to stop to visit a unique salvage wood source in Atascadero, CA. About 175 miles North of Los Angeles on the 101, Forgotten Woods has an amazing inventory of exotic and domestic salvaged hardwoods.

Forgotten Woods is ideal for the wood turner, but there are lots of treats for a furniture maker as well.

The figure on the exotic species are amazing to see the least, but we were very interested in the work that Rusty, one of the owners, does in his tree clearing business. Salvaged trees have histories, stories to tell. Like most lumber-philes, Rusty knew the stories of his harvest and shared them with us.

Monterey Cypress

This Monterey Cypress is a map of a battle between two neighbors, where one side of the fence continually cut off the branches and the other side let it keep growing. The tree just grew over the trimmed limbs.

White Oak

This is a seventeen foot long, 3 foot wide white oak tree that would make an amazing dining room table.

Myrtlewood

Elm

If the tree is not slab-worthy, Rusty cuts walnut, myrtlewood, elm and sycamore in to blocks for turning.

Reclaimed Ebony

This is some Ebony that apparently was sitting in a local man’s garage for 30 years, from when his uncle came back from a military post in the Philippines, where the lumber was used for fence posts. The uncle knew it was valuable wood, took it back to the US and distributed it among four nephews before he died. This particular nephew figured he hadn’t used it yet, so he hopes it will find a good home.

Scout and Rusty playing with hand-made wood tops and toys.

Woodworkers come in many types, from salt of the earth to presidential, but they all share a common craziness about the endless offerings of wood.

AltBuild Debut

I brought my camera to capture the excitement that was sure to be moving around in our space at AltBuild and wouldn’t you know it, I forgot to make sure the battery was charged before leaving home. Foolish... I managed to get some good footage of some of our work, but William Stranger saved the day.  William was very generous in allowing me to film him while he worked on his utensil and as you see in the film, he offered up very insightful words that embody what all of us at BoxCo feel in one way or another.

This selection of our work will show again at Fifth Floor Gallery this month, so I will have a new opportunity to film everyone’s work and present the LA Box Collective in all it’s glory.   Stay tuned for AltBuild Debut II.