Artist’s Statement
I was always interested in making things and art, so that was the direction I took. I enrolled into School of Visual Arts in NYC in 1969. I studied sculpture, photography and product design. There I found Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the 19th and 20th century Scottish Architect, Designer and Artist. One of the original artists that drove the change from Arts and Crafts to Art Nouveau—and really his own style.
His Furniture Designs made me want to design and make furniture. So I started looking into learning how to make furniture.
Once I finished SVA I looked and found a furniture maker in the West Village, an Italian 4th generation furniture maker. His was a small shop that relied on very few power tools and lots of old world hand crafted methods making chairs, tables, cabinets, doors, windows, all the things an old world cabinet shop would make.
As an apprentice I did all the simple tasks—-sweep, clean, lift, hold and a lot of listening and watching how things were done. Little by little I was being shown how to use hand tools, care for them, sharpen them and most important how to use them safely and correctly to get beautiful results. I was also taught how to make a long lasting piece of furniture, learning how to pick the right wood for legs, aprons and chair parts.
After 5 years of working in this shop the master retired and I needed to find a new shop to continue my education. I found another shop a little farther west in the west village. I started as an apprentice but it turned out that the 5 years as an apprentice I was more skilled than most in this new shop.
In time I moved around, working in many different shops from custom shops to high-end commercial shops that used CNC machines, etc. I worked in design companies in San Francisco, STUDIOS Architecture, Landor Assoc. and Addison Design. At STUDIOS I was involved in designing furniture for the Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers.
After a few years I yearned for my old way of designing and making furniture, so I came full circle and went back to the way I made furniture in the Italian furniture shop. I got commissions from architects and designers to make their designs and my designs. And now I’m making furniture of my own designs, some old furniture that inspires me and working with individual's to create their dream furniture.
If your interested in my furniture or would like to design something with me give me a call or email me.
415-205-4152
patrick@patrickwatersstudio.com
Cheers, Patrick