Geoff McKonly Furniture



Geoff McKonly Furniture

About The Artist

Geoff McKonly • Southampton, MA
Furniture • WHOLESALE AVAILABLE • CUSTOM COMMISSIONS

I received a background in fine art studying photography at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. I'm always pulling from that education to work elements such as negative space to thinking about how to direct a viewers eye around my work. After working briefly in photography I started a boatbuilding school and while I was teaching others and myself boatbuilding became increasingly fascinated by the craft. I built boats for 13 years, giving it up when I moved to western Massachusetts with my family. Six months into relocating I decided to start fooling around with furniture. As I built my first few pieces I felt completely at home with the challenge, precision and purpose of furniture. I was used to curves and building in an exploratory way from working on boats and took on many unusual jobs that relied on my background. I now look to make furniture that often appears to be subtle but continues to offer the viewer excitement the longer they live with it.



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Q&A with the Artist

Tell us how your work is made.

I create a constant catalog of ideas to incorporate into designs or things I want to try. When I create a design I pull from these incorporating traditional joinery and hand worked details. I look at a design as a frame, similar to how I would take a photograph. My intent is to keep the eye of the viewer constantly moving, looking at interesting details, exposed joinery and the natural defects of the wood.


What makes you passionate about the medium you work with?

I love that woodworking is a craft I can explore without ever exhausting the possibilities of what can be created. I feel like I'm in a constant push/pull with mastering the craft and the craft expanding as I learn of new techniques to try. The other thing that is always amazing to me is what you find when you uncover the beauty beneath the rough surface of a piece of wood. The fact that I get to use a medium as beautiful as wood to put into designs I imagine is as good as it gets.

What is something unique about you or your practice?

Before I began to build furniture I was a boat builder for 13 years. In boat building you spend a lot of time developing your eye for curvature. Using subtle curves to lighten the feel of a design and accentuate a shape is something I think about with each piece. I also always look to explore movement in a piece using curvature.