Jere Osgood
Desk, 1987
Material: Bubinga, Ash
Signed “Jere Osgood Wilton, New Hampshire 1987”
A remarkable desk by Jere Osgood which showcases his signature design motifs which imbue the form with a feeling of movement and strain. The desk features curvilinear legs made of tapered laminations of ash and a bubinga top – the desk also includes a low profile, single center drawer.
In particular, the desk demonstrates Osgood’s interest in tapered lamination which he began experimenting with in 1970.
“The techniques that I developed grew out of a searching in the design stage for new forms that would be strong and have a sense of freedom” (‘Contemporary American Woodworkers’, Michael A. Stone, 1986, p.145).
“Osgood began experimenting with tapered laminations, where the form curves and tapers at the same time, in 1970, while searching for a sturdier method of constructing the legs of his Elliptical Shell desk. ‘I first made them by the usual process of building a lamination and cutting out the shape on a bandsaw,’ he says. “But when you cut into a lamination you weaken it and get those unsightly gluelines. So I tapered the laminates’” (‘Contemporary American Woodworkers’, Michael A. Stone, 1986, p.145).
“I feel that lamination the way I use it follows the growth patterns in a tree better than can be achieved with traditional joinery techniques using square milled-to-thickness lumber” (‘Contemporary American Woodworkers’, Michael A. Stone, 1986, p.149).
Jere Osgood was born and raised in Staten Island, NY. Osgood was encouraged and taught how to use tools at a young age. He studied architecture at the University of Illinois but left after two years to pursue furniture design and fabrication. Thereafter, he enrolled at the School of American Craftsmen at Rochester Institute of Technology and learned furniture making under Tage Frid. Osgood was also influenced by the work of Wharton Esherick. He completed the four-year program in about two years, receiving his B.F.A. in 1960. He supported himself while in school by fabricating and selling small wood objects of his own design. Osgood was interested in the modern furniture being made in Scandinavia and studied in Denmark in 1960-61.
| Dimensions | 70 × 25.5 × 32.5 in |
|---|---|
| Artist | |
| Date | 1987 |
| Style | |
| Material | ash, bubinga |
