Studio Time with Silas

It's summertime, which means that Silas is on break from school and I get to spend time with him at my studio. Yesterday, Silas and I finished a project that he had started last week. I try not to involve myself too much in his design process: I let him find his own materials in the studio, figure out how he wants the pieces to fit together, and how he wants the final piece to look and function. I let him do all of the work himself except for the bits that obviously require adult supervision (e.g., if a piece of steel or wood needs to be cut). Silas tells me exactly where he wants the cuts to be made by drawing on the wood with a pencil or on the metal with chalk.

Here's Silas' presentation of his first completed design. He did a great job!

Furniture Design by Silas on YouTube

Silas and I will be doing more projects over the next few weeks. We're having a lot of fun with this so we may even turn it into a weekly blog post.

Michael Daniel featured in a new book

Last year I was contacted by Ashley Rooney, an author who wanted to feature my work in her latest book about contemporary custom furniture design. The book came out last week and it looks great! My work is featured on pages 50 and 51. The book is available at Amazon here but doesn't seem to have hit the shelves of Barnes & Noble yet. There's a lot of interesting work from furniture designers in the US and abroad.

Thanks to Tim Dalal for the beautiful photos of my work, and to Sara Rychtarik for the cool portrait!

Big thanks to the attendees of Voos Furniture's Friday night event!

Just want to say thanks again to everyone who made it out to Williamsburg on Friday night for the Voos "Meet the Designers" event.  I really appreciate your support and had a great time hanging out with you all.  I've included a couple photos from the event, one of which is my new sofa (more photos of the sofa to follow in a few days). Thanks again!

Designers Redefining Metal

My new sofa on display at Voos Furniture

Luckey

We recently went to Boston to celebrate our friend Jess' 40th birthday, and while we were there we took Silas to the Boston Children's Museum.  The first thing you see after paying for admission is this giant, 3-story climbing structure.  It's really an amazing piece of sculpture that kids get to climb.

Silas on one of the many magic carpets.

Silas and Auntie Jess.

The week after we got back from Boston, I was flipping channels and came across this film on the Sundance Channel and was intrigued by the story line -- a father and son collaborating on a sculpture.  I didn't get to watch it for whatever reason, and then a week later I came across it again and started viewing it midway through.  As I was watching it, I saw some of the pieces of the work in progress and realized that the father and son, Tom and Spencer Luckey, were building the structure that Silas had enjoyed climbing at the Museum.

Definitely check out the amazing work of Tom and Spencer Luckey.  They build beautiful climbing structures for kids around the world.

http://www.luckeyclimbers.com/

Statuto Ring Dining Table

A new client in San Diego recently sent me some photos of a dining room table that he had commissioned from me.  The table is 60" x 30" and the design is based on my Statuto Ring line of tables.  It's always great to have photos of the furniture in its environment.  Big thanks to Mark for being a great client and for sending the images.

Statuto Ring Dining Table before glass top

Another view of the Statuto Ring Dining Table

Client Photo #1

Client Photo #2

Client Photo #3

Client Photo #4

Catskills Getaway

We spent Memorial Day weekend up in the Catskills and stayed at a great Bed & Breakfast in Phoenicia.  We're not usually the Bed & Breakfast types, but we really loved the Phoenicia Belle. 

The house is a beautiful Victorian that has been lovingly and artfully restored by its owners, Tom and Dana Fraser, who are also the most gracious and kind hosts you could ever hope to meet.  Tom and Dana are both very knowledgeable about the area and it was a real pleasure to make their acquaintance.

Silas loved Phoenicia as well.  He had a great time playing in the Esopus Creek, which runs through the town, and loved watching all the fire trucks in the Memorial Day parade.  He wasn't super fond of the caterpillars and other bugs in the great outdoors, but that's because he's a city kid and the only bugs he's seen are cockroaches.

Silas watching the Phoenicia Memorial Day Parade.

Happy May Day

I know a lot of people here in the States associate May 1st with flowers and maypoles, but for most of the world, May Day is celebrated as International Workers' Day. International Workers' Day, or Labor Day, actually started because of events that occurred in the US in the late 19th Century.  The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions set May 1, 1886 as the date by which the eight-hour work day would become the recognized standard.  When May 1, 1886 arrived, rallies and strikes were held by labor unions and workers in support of the eight-hour work day.

In the Czech Republic, May 1st is also National Love Day.  In Prague, lovers visit the memorial of the Romantic poet Karel Hynek Macha (who wrote a lyrical epic poem called "May," which is considered to be one of the best works of Czech Romanticism) and kiss!

Happy May Day everyone!

Exciting new art show opening this Friday, December 12

Our friend Irina's curatorial thesis project show, The Influence of Fish Tails on the Breaking Waves, is opening this Friday, December 12 at Point B Special Projects in Williamsburg. Don't miss it!

AS Roma wins the Derby della Capitale!

I have to give a big shout out to my brother-in-law Spyros, because Roma just beat Lazio in the Rome Derby. He's on holiday in Vietnam right now, but I have a feeling that he arranged his itinerary so he'd be in a location with cable television today. I'm sure all the guests in the hotel where Spyros and Alyssa are staying were really happy to hear a crazy Italian screaming and jumping up and down at 4:00am.

The Earthship

For our summer vacation this year we went to New Mexico and Colorado. Sara, Silas and I all agree that staying in the Earthship was the highlight of our trip. Sara and I became fascinated by this design of sustainable housing after seeing Garbage Warrior, the documentary about architect Michael Reynolds, creator of the Earthship. On our way to Colorado, we were lucky enough to be able to stay for a night at one of the Earthships at the Earthship World Headquarters in Taos.

We stayed in the Phoenix Design Earthship, which is still under construction (mostly just the greenhouse and outdoor yard), so we were able to talk to a couple of the workers that were on site in the morning before we left, and learned more about the Earthship design and sustainable housing in general. The atmosphere inside the Earthship is incredibly soothing, and the air is really clean, due to all the plants growing inside. It was amazing to have a mini-jungle growing near the foot of the bed! Silas had fun running through the entire house (almost 5,500 square feet of it), and talking to the birds that lived in the greenhouse. There were even banana trees growing next to the living room area.

Entrance to The Phoenix

Silas looking up at the jungle growing inside The Phoenix

Silas running along the path inside The Phoenix

Me and Silas, sitting next to the tilapia pond

The fireplace and television in the living room

Recycled colored bottles

A photo of The Phoenix from the road leading to the highway