Makers Journal | Oct 2020

We have 4 posts here from our instagram feed (you should follow along, like and comment with us @studio50_ca). 

Oct 4 -- Special Deliveries

It feels like the day before a big exam. You've done all the work in class, you've studied using your handmade point-form flash cards and you know you know everything inside and out and now you wait with anticipation to write it.

Delivery day for furniture pieces kinda feels like this for us.  We know that the dining table, console table or the Lagen shelf you have thoughtfully curated for your home is a personal investment and so it's very important to us to keep the final stage of the piece arriving to be stress free. So, when you open your door for your delivery it will be us (Steve and Kim)  ready to set-up your new piece (sometimes we bring a little extra muscle/Brian depending on the size and weight of the piece). When distance from the delivery locations is more than 3 hours away for us to physically do the delivery, we are still full hands on building the custom shipping crates, scheduling the truck for pickup and drop off and tracking the process to keep the homeowner in the loop.

Most of the deliveries we make are scheduled on the weekend and in the morning (especially if we are heading into the big city). We acknowledge that everyone's time is precious so a very specific time is scheduled. If the time is altered... we run into traffic (although Waze is such a great app to use for off highway routes) we call or text an updated arrival time so you're not at home wondering what's happening.

When we arrive, we note where the piece is going and we get to it! The piece gets placed, we demonstrate how to care and clean your piece and then we stand back, wait and hope to hear the most beautiful words for any creative..."It is Perfect...we LOVE IT".
That is what makes what we do so worth it and admittedly why we love doing the delivery. To see a piece that we've designed and then chosen by someone to put into their home, brings us simple and proud joy. To see the joy coming from the homeowner with their new piece is what feeds our creative souls...the remaining balance is paid once we know you are fully happy and is what helps feed our teenage kids who are always hungry ;)
#designermaker #studio50living

Oct 11 -- dreamers, doers, and minimal documenters

October 2014 is when the 772 Governors Rd E, Paris, ON Studio50 Living relocation began. Actually, it really began almost 30 years ago when Kim was in a little Austrian town nestled in the mountains and fell in love with the lifestyle there. The baker lived above the bakery, the clockmaker lived beside the shop.

It was transparent, quaint and very connected .

So, when we outgrew our little dream home of 16 years and studio we put the cards on the table. Stay authentic to the vision or fold up the hand.

So, here we are on our 2 acre property still in beautiful Paris, complete with an old army base hanger as our workshop, an American 4 square home that was purchased out of the Sears catalog and a 100 year old chicken barn.

So many of you have been following our journey here as we work to restore the old barn to what is now our studio shop, loft commons area and the outdoor garden/gathering space.

Documenting things with pictures is not our strong point but here are a few  for you.

We have collectively decided that the worst undertaking for the studio was removing all the old car insulation from the walls and ceiling of the barn's loft. For some reason we ended up doing that on our anniversary weekend in 2016. We removed a 40 yard dumpster of grossness and 3 !!! 5 gallon pails of mouse and squirrel shit. We had a few folks slow down while driving by wondering if there was some sort of chemical fall out here. Our attire ?

A huge influence for how the studio’s placement of parking area (which was a huge 50 year old swimming pool), front door, gathering spaces was influenced by a documentary we watched called, "The Human Scale".A must watch!

It's taken 5 years for the space to become what it is now. There is still more to do...

We've had help from amazing family and friends for demo days, trades who worked with us on electrical, ducting, removing the pool and exterior sheeting.

And during times when we were trying to run a business, raise a family and deal with life in general, we'd think, "what the F@ck are we doing????". So it's never all roses and sunshine, but we think that's what makes it even sweeter.

Oct 18 -- flattening the curve 

There's a lot of factors that affect the curve of a wood board prior to flattening.

• How the wood was milled
• How the wood was dried
• How the wood is stored
• and many more

We try to be as hands-on as possible for all these moving parts, but seeing there is limited typing space we will journal about those in upcoming entries.

For now we will talk about flattening our Rille table. Since releasing the new table design in June the wood side of the workshop has been busy. ( Thank-you we love making these tables for families to gather around!!!)
Rille in German means "groove" describing the carved profile at the table ends that flows the table and legs together. It is fitted with a high profile skirt so for those that like to cross your legs under the table it is designed for that sitting form ;) as i'm typing this at the Rille table in the studio loft my legs are crossed, always, lol. -designed with purpose-

First, the individual boards are dressed through a planner. The widest board ours can fit is 24". The boards are then glued up, set to rest and then brought to a steel table set-up outside for the flattening which is done all by hand. Steve designed a gantry that spans across the table to house and guide the router that moves along the grain, back and forth of the table top. (there is a little video in our stories today to show this) Both sides are flattened and then brought back inside for fine tuning with the hand planes, squared up using a track saw, top is then sanded, and moved to the finishing area.

On average for a well milled rough lumber board you will lose 1/4" on either side of the board. That's a lot of saw dust. That's why it is so important to invest time into the early processes of the wood.

For a flat concrete table top it is all about making sure your casting table is perfectly level before you start the pour.

You're hearing it here first !!!

Coming Spring 2021 we will be launching a Concrete Rille table with a wood or metal base option. Gathering inside or outside this design will offer function, durability and concrete! Rille table will be on website under our Living Collection - Tables, early this week

Oct 25 -- New skill

Today at 1:00pm, on instagram live, we get to immerse ourselves into another maker's world.

Cynthia, fabricator and founder of @sunhousecraft will be teaching us about broom making. At the end of the hour we will have fostered an appreciation and knowledge towards an object we use everyday, her journey and skill and our very own, made by our hands, turkey broom to proudly use in the studio.

We are looking forward to asking Cynthia how she got introduced to this world of fabricating. We are curious about the broom making materials, how they are harvested, and her creative design process. 

20 years of skill is what will be openly and graciously shared today and we hope that you will be able to pop on for a few minutes or stay for the whole hour and take in the story of Cynthia’s craft.

#broommaking #designprocess