Flat-Pack Furniture Design for Teens

This advanced-level woodworking class guides students through honing their cabinetmaking skills to the level of their design ambitions. Emphasis is placed on the design and construction of cabinets, chests, and bureaus. Topics include dovetails, mortise and tenon joinery, frame and panel construction, and doors and drawers. Participants learn the proper application of each type of joint in the construction of a small cabinet of their own design. The goal of this workshop is to develop both machine skills and confidence in the use of hand tools in the construction of traditional joinery. Modest-sized projects are encouraged in this skill building experience, with the hope of leaving with a completed work.

Learn to make a unique, two-board chair in an Alpine vernacular. This class introduces and hones skills in joinery, relief carving, and design. Students utilize hand tools to create components and joints, including tapered sliding dovetails and through-tenons. Each student is encouraged to develop a vocabulary in pattern carving throughout the week as they work either from a template or from their own design compiled from practiced patterns. Though elements of this class may be physically strenuous, all levels are welcome and guided through this innovative process.

Light, playful prototyping is a key element for developing new ideas in the studio. This exploratory workshop delves into rapid, fast-paced prototyping to help generate ideas focused on light, form, and material. Students begin by iterating with paper to achieve form, explore luminosity, translucence, and shadow. Through the organic lens of bent wood, we tie it all together with contemporary lighting design. Students design and prototype their own light fixture, blending basic wiring and digital fabrication tools like laser cutting with wood bending methods such as hot pipe bending and bent lamination.