NC Luxury Furniture Designer Brian Boggs [INTERVIEW]

North Carolina holds a special place in my heart, having lived in Raleigh for over 20 years. When a little piece of N.C. crosses my desk, I am always happy to cover. When I was introduced to Asheville, N.C. artisan Brian Boggs’ work, I was blown away. His work is GORGEOUS! With the assistance of his wife Melanie Boggs, CEO and Co-founder of Brian Boggs Chairmakers, Inc. we were able to make this incredible interview happen. 

Spoiler Alert! I am going to jump in and share one of my favorite pieces in his collection…his Sonus Guitar Chair. It is absolutely beautiful and functional for the professional guitarist or the hobbyist. While I will not be having one crafted for my husband’s upcoming birthday…it is definitely on a future gift list. If it is good enough for Steve Vai…

“And it’s kind of like… my butt was molded into wooden butter…. It’s just very comfortable and it keeps your back straight and it’s just remarkable actually and so this is now my go-to chair for sitting and playing. Highly recommend checking out the Sonus chair” said Steve Vai

Brian really opened up for this interview…so thank you Brian (and Melanie!) It was a pleasure getting to know this furniture artisan and exploring what inspires and drives his woodworking passion. Here is the interview…

Who is Brian Boggs?

Brian Boggs started his chairmaking journey in 1982 and has worked as a professional furniture maker ever since. The current iteration of his business is Brian Boggs Chairmakers, Inc.

While Brian’s designs expanded through the years to include tables and other custom furniture, chairs remain his favorite canvas. During his career, he designed and built chairs for highly regarded furniture experts such as Sam Maloof, winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant for his furniture design and woodworking, and Frank Pollaro, CEO of Pollaro Fine Furniture.

The history behind his medium of choice…wood. 

After a decade of drawing and painting; thinking of myself as an artist, I stumbled upon a book “The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking” by James Krenov. His perspective on using wood as a medium for artistic expression in the form of things we use every day turned something on that was lacking in my two-dimensional art. That something has grown over the years to a full-blown love affair with wood and everything about it. That passion drove explorations in design and a mastery of the material that invites new designs onto my bench and into my mind on a near-daily basis. When clients insist I include metal into my work I sometimes do. But I find that our versatility with wood allows such an array of options, that metal is never really needed. I also find that the more I learn and design, the fewer limits I see in what we can do with wood. Diversifying with the inclusion of other materials can provide new options, but there are always other design possibilities in wood waiting for our hands and minds to play with. Those always win my attention. I think following that muse is critical to doing our best and most creative work. Other artists and designers include metals and other materials in imaginative ways and I am happy to applaud their work and share the stage with them while focusing on our woodwork.

We are beginning to include composites into our designs. Using hemp and linen composites made with epoxy from tree resin allows us to expand what is possible in wooden design. This type of composite integrates into woodworking and wood-based design in ways other materials like metals and stone don’t.

Is there a specific artist, person or place that inspires you or your work?

James Krenov, through his books and Jennie Alexander who in Make a Chair from a Tree, got my head turned toward making furniture rather than painting. My friendship with Sam Maloof inspired my thinking about a craftsman’s relationship to his clients as well as what it means to be a master craftsman in modern society. I have had the honor of getting to know several of the great and influential studio craftsmen like Gary Knox Bennet, Art Espenet Carpenter, Michael Fortune, and many others. While not a studio craftsman Thomas Moser has had an influence on my work as well. None of the design elements of these makers are evident in our portfolio (except for a touch of Maloof), But they all motivated me to excel and their success excited my passion to keep developing as a craftsman, as a designer, and as a thinker.

He struggles to admit he has a favorite piece…shh…just don’t tell the others.

To single out one design feels like a betrayal to the others. I feel such a strong connection to them all because of how much I put into their development. Even so, the Cio (pronounced Chee – o, meaning revival or renewal in Latin) ladderback stands out among them as the most innovative. The juice for Cio began to brew over 30 years ago when I heard an NPR piece on hemp fiber being used in construction materials (concrete block at this point). That got me wondering how hemp could be used in chairmaking. In the absence of knots and other defects found in trees, it seemed hemp had huge potential. But until a couple of years ago I could not think of a practical way to use it or a problem it might solve within my shop’s technical scope.

Then when I decided to update my ladder back chair design I hit a wall with the seat. I went through lots of ideas like throwing spaghetti at the wall wanting it to stick. Then the hemp thoughts re-emerged. Initially, I didn’t find the right hemp product and used a linen composite fiber instead. But now we are using hemp. Not in the way I have seen it used or heard about it used, but fully integrated into the seat structure to enhance what we can do with wood. This idea of integrating composite with wood opens up a world of design possibilities. Meanwhile, the Cio stands out as the most state-of-the-art piece we make by using a 3,000-year-old product: linen composite. Even older than that idea, how we are making these seats takes inspiration from the structure of a beetle’s wing as our first truly biomimetic design.
It was actually Alexander the Great that was first known to use this idea. He had his soldiers’ body armor made from linen composite. That’s what gave them their edge on the battlefield. We’re finding our own edge with this material and nobody is getting hurt!!

How has travel influenced your work?

My wife and I love to travel and see new places and new (to us) things being done. It always stimulates some new thoughts. I have had amazing experiences traveling and teaching. I have had the privilege to work with a Yanesha tribe in the Peruvian Amazon, a Peche tribe in northern Honduras, and teach chairmaking in a castle in England. I filled a sketchbook of design ideas on a trip to Mexico with Melanie. I didn’t find motivation because I saw furniture that inspired me to emulate, but because I experienced people doing things differently than we do and drawing from very different influences. That turns on new creative energy in me whenever or wherever I experience it.

Having made 300 chairs in my early years the way our ancestors made them without electricity, even making my own lumber by splitting logs and hand shaping every board, I have come to understand historical ways of doing things. I still have a lot to learn for sure, but my sense is that what is needed in furniture design now has to come from a knowledge of our 4,000-year-old history of furniture making, an embrace of our current technology, and a prayer for our future. Travel offers one of many ways to find inspiration and open the mind and I am thankful to have rich well-traveled memories to draw from.

What is your creative truth? 

I wrote a few articles in the past few years on this concept. Well, actually on the opposite. The Myth of original design, The Myth of the Self-taught craftsman, The Myth of the Handmade object. We as craftsmen hold many myths about what we do and why we do it. We also have an opportunity to explore the why of what we do that can enrich our experience of being creative. Recognizing the myths we hold can unlock an opportunity to see through what we do in a way that helps us understand what the point is. When we get that we can make solid decisions that get us moving in the direction that supports what we value. I think many of us hold the myths about our concept of handmade, being self-taught, and generating original designs. Respecting the sources of our learning, the reality of how we make things, and the true source of inspiration, will make everything you do easier to grasp and direct. (link to the articles)

Tell us about your work in progress.

It will be easier to start describing this assuming the design is already worked out. Having learned furniture making the old way and starting with a log rather than a board, I know it is critical to control the process from the beginning: selecting the tree to start with. On my last trip to the log yard, I looked at over 150 logs to find the 5 I needed. This is not the cheap way to get material, but it is the only way to start the process with control. For chairs, I look for one type of character, for tables and case goods another. Some logs can go either way. Then I have each log sawn specifically for what type of furniture it will become. With that done we carefully air dry each board for 1-2 years, then finish the drying process in our drying room. That gets us started off well for the making of whatever it is we are to build. But that’s the easy part.

The design process develops more slowly. When designing furniture I hold in mind not only the physical requirements for the piece, but where it will go, what part of the market I am targeting, the economy I need to achieve vs the artistry, and how it can flow through our shop as it is made. These concepts serve as guides rather than limitations. I honestly believe that even keeping within such a framework, a free mind can access unlimited options. The better the shop’s infrastructure, the freer one can imagine possibilities.

What is one of the challenges you face as an artist?

For sure the greatest challenge for me is to balance the act of following my muse and directing it in a way that makes economic sense. There exists harmony in that relationship (economy and artistry). But like so many challenges we face, the quiet voice is the wise one and the machines in the shop make a lot of noise.

What is one of the most rewarding elements you take away from doing what you do?

Seeing our employees develop and learn and watching beautiful work come from their hands tops my list. I have made a lot of furniture myself but the satisfaction of seeing beauty emerge through those I have taught satisfies me like nothing I can do with my hands. This success is made possible not just by skills development, but by company culture and the systems we have created. I am very fortunate to have my wife and business partner Melanie guiding much of this. Her background in organizational development has given her the tools to guide and nurture our company culture as well as guide me as a leader in it. I don’t think this company could work without her wisdom at the helm. Having both of our gifts play out in the creation of great work through the hands of others is a beautiful thing to be a part of.

What is one quality you feel is key in succeeding at your craft in today’s creative landscape?

The ability to find balance is a requirement for lasting success. By this I mean the balance of holding the excitement of creating something new and the awareness of where, how, or even whether it fits in today’s marketplace.

Within holding this balance we need to consider wisely where to put our energy. I have been under Melanie’s tutelage for 14 years now and she still has to remind me to keep the big picture in focus. The big picture is often a video rather than a still as we intentionally evolve.

If you could meet another artist (dead or alive) for a day, who would it be?

Honestly, I did not hold this idea before seeing this question, so this is a new thing to think about. As I consider this question I also realize how stuck I am in the western design lexicon. I don’t have a Chinese, Japanese, or middle eastern artist on a list of designers I look to. But to play the fantasy out, I would like to call Finn Juhl to the imaginary table. I would love to hear his thoughts on what drove his design directions and how he saw his role in the massively powerful Danish design movement. I would love to understand further how the Danish designers held such a cohesive schtick and whether they realized its power.

His advice to up and coming artists, “Keep the clay wet.”

Keep the clay wet. By this I mean don’t get stuck on a path, an idea, or even a business. I don’t mean to avoid committing to anything. But there is an attractive comfort to sticking with the familiar. But this familiar thing might have been just a stepping stone to where you can really make a difference. I keep this thought on my shoulder because it helps remind me not to get stuck on an idea because it may well just be a passing thought before a really great idea lands. A new design that seems to work out might just be your training for what is to come.

This phrase also reminds me to avoid coming to conclusions that stop me from wondering. There is always more to learn about anything but our tendency is to draw conclusions about how something works. If you hold a conclusion as you work you’re likely to miss out on new observations that blow that conclusion out of the water. Then you’re stuck in myth. Keep the clay wet and keep learning. This practice took me a long time to become comfortable with but has kept me learning and getting wiser. It also keeps my experience at work fresh, even after 40 years.

For someone who is new to discovering art, what would you recommend on how to explore the possibilities of what is out there?

From what’s out there I am thinking you ask about the opportunity to find your place as a creative. The scary and exciting part of that is the lack of limits of possibilities. There’s so much stuff out there, but the opportunity for you is in what is not out there. It will be important to get good at recognizing exciting possibilities and focusing on the practical next step while creating a situation that allows you to master your thing and hold on to your sanity. Yes, it’s complicated. Get creative with this too.

The rules of business apply to art the same as any other entrepreneurial effort. Art does not have its own business rules.

Whatever you do while exploring, do not compromise on who you are for the opportunity. I don’t think anything is more important than knowing who you are in the challenge to become successful as an artist.

A three-time Good Design Award winner!

I have been fortunate to win three Good Design Awards. This award began in 1950 at the Antatheum Museum of Architecture and Design in Chicago, claimed to be the oldest, largest, and most prestigious consumer design award worldwide. We also won a bronze “A” Design Award presented at Lake Como, in Northern Italy in 2016.

Even so, I hold it a greater honor to have made chairs for real connoisseurs of furniture like Sam Maloof, Frank Pollaro, Gary Rogowski, and many other professional furniture designer-makers.

What has been your biggest “Wow” moment in your career as an artist?

That’s a tough one because there have been many. I think the day I tested my first composite-integrated wood panels is likely the top one. That sounds geeky, but people I have shown that too have been amazed too. Simply fusing a layer of plant fiber composite to one side of a wood veneer gives the wood so much more strength, flexibility, and stability, that it changes the way I can think of how I can design furniture, especially seating. The biggest challenge in wooden chairmaking is working within the limits of the material to make lightweight, strong, and comfortable seating. I already had created a formula for comfortable shapes, and our ability to shape wood has been increasing dramatically over the past few years. Now with hemp and linen fibers in the mix, a whole new design world opens up. That’s exciting!

Tell us an interesting story about yourself that you have not already covered in the above questions.

In the early 1990’s my friend and fellow chairmaker, Curtis Buchanan, and I were looking for ways we could make a difference in the huge battle against rainforest destruction. We were members of what was the Woodworkers Alliance for Rainforest Protection, (WARP). Neither of us used woods outside our region much less from rainforests countries. But we felt energized by the idea of helping others in the fight. It was Curtis’ idea to explore the possibility of teaching our hand tool woodworking skills to villagers depending on the forested land around them. Their current only option for making a living was through subsistence agriculture that included slash and burns practices. They had no way to earn money from sustainably managing the forest itself.

Our first exploratory trip led to small funding for what was to become Greenwood and Madera Verde. These two sister organizations have been training artisans now for 28 years in Honduras, Peru, and now Puerto Rico. Teaching in my third language in foreign cultures and working with limitations I could not have imagined changed my thinking about what can be done. It also strengthened my problem-solving skills immensely. But more importantly, it generated a humility with regard to my own position and struggles and a great admiration for those struggling with far less. I traveled a couple of times a year for many years for experiences labeled as helping others. I can’t imagine our students got more out of these experiences than I did. These people enriched my life in ways I may not be able to appreciate right now, but I feel a strength from those years that I draw on daily.

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