Louis Fry Furniture
1 June 2010
“It’s a Small World”
The dominant interests in my life are woodworking and writing, both in the doing and in the appreciation of the work of others. Good writing is something that is easily appreciated by everyone, but I do think woodworking is the more arcane of the two disciplines, in that some of what is done is better appreciated by fellow woodworkers. I remember once running my hands over a wonderfully designed and executed walnut sideboard in a restaurant, and a waitress passing by immediately said, “You’re a woodworker, aren’t you?”
Recently I came across a woodworker on the Internet whose shop I would really like to visit. Louis Fry is a woodworker who lives and works in the hill country of central Texas some twenty-five miles west of Austin. For the last thirty years Mr. Fry has been designing and building one-of-a-kind pieces one-at-a-time. He hand selects rough lumber, brings it to his shop, tools it, and over a period of time, transforms rough boards into wonderful works of fine furniture of his own design. I cannot imagine a more satisfying way to spend a lifetime.
I think what I like about Mr. Fry’s furniture is its grace and the fact that he uses solid wood exclusively. Veneer has its place, and I’ve worked with it a bit myself, but I have always preferred simply shaping an item from solid wood, as opposed to an inferior substrate that is then covered with veneer. The Craftsman Desk we show here is made entirely of solid quarter-sawn bubinga with wenge accents. It’s the sort of thing that could sit in the middle of a room and look good from any angle, which is the very thing Mr. Fry set out to do when he designed the piece.
Anyone who does this kind of work is bound by the old axiom, form follows function, but I must say that Mr. Fry took this dictum to new levels when he designed his Audubon Cabinet. It was designed to house first edition prints by the great American naturalist and nature artist, John James Audubon, some of which were as large as three feet by four feet. This naturally gave the cabinet itself a big footprint, so Mr. Fry was at pains to design the piece in such a way that it didn’t appear too massive or bulky. The long drawers in the top of the cabinet accommodate the prints, while rare books are stored in the lower section. When I saw the artwork on the panels and drawer fronts, I first though it was marquetry, but it is actually wood burning that was done by wildlife artist, Kathleen Marie Wilson. The cabinet itself is made of pecan, walnut, mesquite, and wenge.
As always with a rich website there are more items on Mr. Fry’s site than I can feature in this blog. The padauk and leather settee has a wonderful grace that speaks so clearly that I find it almost superfluous to say anything about the piece at all, but I did want to mention the table at the top of this blog. It’s a wonderful six-foot-wide table made of bubinga and curly maple for the late Molly Ivins, who was a nationally syndicated columnist who wrote a wise and witty column on politics. Mr. Fry was inspired by the Art Deco, but the design is entirely his own, and unlike so much of the work that is done in that particular style, Mr. Fry did not use veneer. The table is entirely solid wood.
I said earlier that Mr. Fry works and lives in Texas, but those who are interested in his work and are interested in commissioning a piece from him should certainly visit his site. Despite his Texas site, he has clients all over the country. Small wonder, when you think about it; I mean, look at his talent! And it’s a small wonder, too, when you think about how we live these days. Or should that be small world?
Joseph
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