Beautiful Together: Collaboration of Wood and Metal

Artists and artisans sometimes need reasons to dig deeper into the craft that they love, and that sustains them and their families.  Once the artisans have mastered the everyday intricacies of their work, it can be easy to get busy fulfilling orders and losing the time and energy to dig deeper into new avenues and creative touches.

Last year, an interesting project came to us by way of Salmon Falls Artisans Showroom (www.salmonfallsgallery.com).  We are not new to this gallery, having had the privilege of showing some of our work there, and were excited when they came to us with a project for a gallery show:  the collaboration of wood and metal.  We were excited to say yes.  We had teamed up before with local Colrain, MA woodworker Al Ladd (www.alladd.com), and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to deepen that relationship.

Al is a talented woodworker who makes a variety of different handcrafted wood products, brilliantly using unique and colorful types of wood in beautiful combinations.  His wooden jewelry boxes are breathtaking! 

For the collaboration, they crafted four pieces: a writing desk, a wall-hung jewelry box, a cutting board, and a wall-hung wine rack.   As they were creating the art pieces, there was a steady stream of communication back and forth, and an excitement in Justin’s step as he would head out the door to run something by Al, or Al would stop by to see progress on the parts Justin was working on.   

Watching these talented artisans work together to create these stunning combinations of wood and metal was such a privilege.  The way they communicated, encouraged, and pushed each other was a lesson in how we can all be better when we work together.  In speaking with both Al and Justin, they expressed how wonderful it was to work together, and the value of assignments to stretch us and open up new creative paths.  Al was surprised at how he often reaches for wood to fill out certain hardware, when metal might really be a more appropriate option.  Justin enjoyed the warmth and depth that wood offers, and the contrast in color for the pieces.  It lends a versatility that you can’t get from using just metal.  As you can see from the photos, everyone benefits when artisans collaborate! 

The writing desk, with cutting board displayed