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40 Years of Designing and Making Furniture

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Google Tech Talk
January 11, 2016
(click "show more" for more info)
Presented by Jonathan Cohen

ABSTRACT

For this talk I have prepared images, details and anecdotes from forty years of handmade furniture making.

In presenting them to you, I intend to seduce you with the staggering beauty that is the wood itself, elucidate any curiosities you might have about various techniques, and regale you with stories of famous clients and surprising moments.

I studied design at Cornell, spent a few years working around the world on a cruise ship, and then decided, much like some of you, to head west and find my fortune in the beautiful Northwest. (Fortune. Hah! We are speaking of woodworking here). This became a torrid love affair with the possibilities of this most magnificent of materials. That affair continues to this day. Hopefully, some of that ardor will pass on to you.

About the Speaker

Jonathan Cohen studied design at Cornell, and afterwards decided, probably like many of you, that his future lay in the beautiful Northwest. At 22, he cluelessly dove in to the poorly remunerated, but astronomically satisfying work of designing and hand building furniture. The original plan was to dance around in that for a couple
of years, and head back to grad school. Unexpectedly, his work became his grad school.

Nearly 40 years later, he has still not come up for air, and he still does not represent a financial challenge to either Larry Page or Sergey Brin ( or Donald Trump for that matter).

CV synopsis: BA Cornell 1978. Opened eponymous studio in 1980. Almost immediately started creating large bodies of work for many collectors such as the co-founder of Microsoft, the founder of Pilchuck, and, more recently, several executives at Google, and hundreds of individual pieces and smaller commissions for people across the U.S. and Europe. Was represented by 7 galleries across the U.S. Had 3 sold-out one-man gallery shows and participated in countless group shows; lectured at the UW school of Architecture for 18 years; continues building one-off pieces of his own design.

His work can be seen at jonathancohenfinewoodworking.com
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