Spec vs. Commission

While visiting my site it may be a little confusing as to what it is you’re looking at. Some of the work is speculative. This work is where I am exploring new ideas and filling out a “style”, to give you all a more broad view of that thematic thinking. Not only does this give me an opportunity to experiment but it gives potential clients the opportunity to use this styling and project and translate into a new piece, or set of furniture that is needed for their home or other space. It also gives me an opening to not be bound by anyone else’s expectations, I’m free to use this as a form of personal expression.

Many of these pieces are still for sale. Please ask if interested in something you see.

This of course leads to the commissioned work. My speculative pieces aren’t always the perfect piece needed - sometimes it’s too big, too small, a table instead of a bed, a chair instead of table, too green, too black, too many bumps (too Gothic…? not my intention by the way.) You want a whole dining set or a stool based on one unusual chair - you get the idea. But there are details, or a flavor, something about the design that turns you on with a piece I’ve made (see the chair image at top). Can I design a whole bedroom from a sideboard, or even one little element on that sideboard? Of course, that is what I do. The dining set above came from a Manhattan client's interest in the chair shown above. The commissions you see on my website almost always have come from a conversation and have developed from something the client had seen me do.

Not only does it satisfy my clients, but it also offers me new ideas I hadn’t considered before - it’s all a continuum of thought, a progression of ideas stemming back 30+ years. Once in awhile my client surprises me and comes in with an idea of their own, something I haven’t considered before and it totally turns me on and sets me off on a whole new direction. That can be lot of fun, too, but it can also put me in the awkward position of having to say that just won’t work…The fun for you is that you are not bound by a set line of furniture. You too, are free to explore and fantasize about how your room will change. It is a real pleasure for me to have the confidence of a return client, now a collector, who gives me the freedom to come up with something new - the ’surprise me’ factor, just because it has made a difference in their life.

THIS IS FURNITURE?!

This is furniture? Sure, except for some wayward pieces (more on this later), what you see is fully functional furniture. It’s not what most people are looking for, or needing, when they shop at Ikea, or Ethan Allen, or your Interior Designers catalog, or even what you might find at a craft fair, or most galleries. I’m not interested in Modernism, Shaker, or Craftsman styling, I love all these styles and many more, but there are a multitude of woodworkers around doing that sort of work.

I have minimal design interest in a beautifully grained piece of wood (even though I will use it if it is appropriate and enhances the particular design at hand, but it is not the basis for my designs), nor dovetails and other typical woodworker details. Through the years I have done all of that kind of work. I am more interested in a ‘fully realized’ design, unique to my thinking. My “style” changes over time and I am not interested in working in current studio furniture trends - I’ll use paint or found objects, but only when it fits my idea (I'm doing a painted desk right now, pics later as I get farther along). I do use traditional techniques and materials in ways both standard, and the unorthodox when it is appropriate to my intent. I also introduce new materials and new techniques I have developed, and use new technologies whenever I can. I’m more interested in getting my ideas out there than in the ‘doing’, I’ve been at this a long time and the romance of ‘doing’ went away a while back. The process is necessary and I am unfortunately bound by a determination to demand excellent craftsmanship always, but my satisfaction is in the idea and the end result.

What I offer, and am very fortunate to be able to design and sell, is a very personal approach to design. I work thematically, following a design train of thought; even conceptually, tweaking and reworking expectations and willing to provoke and make people smile and wonder at the piece, rather than just sit on it. I believe in graceful lines with an architectural awareness, and an ever constant effort to explore unique, creative design to the fullest. And, yes, I believe in comfort, structural integrity and functionality.

I do not come from the Industrial Design perspective which adheres most eloquently to budget and profit. Instead, I’m on a search, I have a story to tell. I respond more to environmental intrigue - what’s going on around me. With the commission work I am aware and sensitive to my potential clients lifestyle and desires, but I try to maintain a personal integrity to what I come up with. That’s not to say that I don’t grow and learn from each client I meet, I do, but you probably won’t get me to do edgebanded kitchen cabinets, unless……what if I….? (nah, just kidding)

Introduction

Welcome to Terry Bostwick Studio. If you’re new to my work and this site, I hope you like what you see. Communication is important to me, and my latest efforts to reach out to prospective clients, other artists, furniture makers and crafts people of all kinds is this blog. I look forward to addressing topics important to anyone that makes art or has an interest in the works of artists here in Portland and of course anywhere in the world. I receive so many inquiries from all over the world, I’m still amazed at this communication tool, the Internet.

Recently it came to my attention that people had approached this website and found the work here intriguing, beautiful, provocative, or even controversial. Some of these people confided to me that there was an intimidation factor which kept them from finding out more about buying this work or work like it. Some were even reluctant to approach me to just ask questions for fun about who I am and what this is all about. I’ll try to talk about the commission process for those wondering, and even fill you in on projects that are in progress.

I realized this was a great opportunity to create a discussion forum, a web log, where I could talk a little about this work and about me. What I would like to do is make it a dialog that you can participate in as well. So please feel free to respond, react, ask questions about anything related to this website, or your interests. Your questions should open up ideas for me to talk about as well, hopefully I’ll give you answers, provoke new thoughts for you, but more than anything make it more comfortable to interact with me. Because human nature strikes on occasion I have to use the editing tools to weed out stuff that just isn't appropriate - or nice. So try to be nice, I'm just trying to make the world a little more interesting than it was yesterday.

I know some people spend their lives at the computer, but I need to spend most of my time in the studio making furniture. So be a little patient with me if I don’t respond right away, I’ll try to get back with my response as soon as I can. And if nothing else thank you for visiting, enjoy the site and feel free to provoke my thoughts - I want to know your ideas as well. If you would prefer to talk to me directly, or without the whole world watching...send me an email, or a phone call (contact page). Thanks again for taking the time! Terry