modern wood furniture interior design
jared rusten: i was always interested in building and making things i.... build a lot of skateboard ramps. and i was always that kid that liked building the skateboard ramp than actually skating on it. my name is jared rusten and i am a furniture designer/ maker. when i was in high school i came from a fairly humble background. it just didn't seem like
college was that much of an option. i went to a community college that focus specifically on a wood working program. and then i started apprenticing with a bunch of other professional master craftsmen and wood workers who are all around the los angles area. i moved actually from l.a. where i was apprenticing back to san jose where i had grown up, and, collected some tools of my own,
and just, was put in touch with a guy who said, "i want an entertainment center". and so, i took the deposit for that entertainment center. i got my first workshop space. and from that one entertainment center, i ended up building and entertainment center for his neighbor. and then, got refereed to build a staircase.
also work with some corporate buyers. one of the designers, who was in charge decorating the google offices decided, "we want a california table in there" so they called me up and i delivered one to them. when i start building a piece of furniture usually it starts with either i am recognizing a need
or, clients come to me. then i go to a sketch book. where i am just doodling, sketching really conceptual forms. and then, i'll get a big piece of tag board and i will actually draw the chair to scale. and make sure that i got all of the measurements, dimensions dialed in
that's actually going to work, before i start building the final product. i never thought that i'd be using math as much as i do now. and i was never very good at math. its something that become second nature and, you know, i definitely wish i payed a little bit more attention sometimes when you have a one man shop
with maybe a few assistants your'e running a business, and you really need to understand how to reach and connect with people. and so, a big part is communication. when a interior designer comes in, especially when she is spending her clients money, she wants to be able to trust this person that she's handing this job off to. for the desk size we have,
um, this is an 86' inch size. we could either make this as a huge coffee table, but usually this is a desk size. (indistinguishable chatter) ... i've definitely learned it the hard way that this isn't just a playground even though, you know, having a wood shop is this really fun idea.
the thing i love the most is just the act of creation. of having an idea, taking just a concept or a sketch and making it this tangible object, that..., could bring tears to somebody's eyes.