Whatever happened to Derek?

[bargrove]

I understand. I would have a hard time outfitting our dining room table with $4400. chairs. But I'm sure you woud agree that $4400. is not outrageouis considering the work involved. Unfortunately, what we do necessarily costs a lot.

[Derek Cohen]

I could not justify factory costs for my home either. Ironically, it is not the hours of work of building the chairs that creates the cost. They are made with CNC machinery (no doubt very costly), with one human at the end glueing all the pieces together. I was reminded of this many times when building the legs and the seats. There are many builds of similar chairs on YouTube. What you see are parts drawn from templates, cut out, and then fitted together. The build of each chair is relatively easy (it gets completed in 30 minutes on YouTube ... just kidding). But it is easy when there are templates to use. The hard work is not so much the build, but determining the size and shape of each part. I returned to each seat on at least three occasions ..  little more off here, and there. It was a huge amount of research to determine dimensions. And the seats you see are the second lot I made. The first were binned. that is another story ...

By the way, I looked at your website. You do great work.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Timberwolf]

Thanks Jack. Much appreciated.

I am fine, and I do drop by every now-and-then. I am aware that I have not posted much in quite a while. Work (as a clinical psychologist) has been overwhelmingly busy since Covid began in 2020. I continue to post to a few forums, but it has been increasingly disappointing as all forums around the globe appear to be suffering from the same issue - reduced participation. A big reason for posting my own builds and participating in the queries and builds of others is the promise of discussions. I look for discussion, especially where I can learn something new or just enjoy the insights of others. A lot of the time my build posts feel like I am writing into a vacuum. 

I have not slowed down much with building furniture. Also written several articles for magazines, such as Quercus (which has recently closed down) and Australian Wood Review. Also had a few shop tips and photos of furniture in FWW magazine. 

In the latter part of last year one of my pieces made the short list for the Australian Wood Review (Australia and International) furniture competition, while another was given a "high commendation" (what one write when it is decent but not good enough). The short-listed piece(s) will be published in an article (I wrote) in their next edition.

The highly commended piece ...



This features coopered legs.



A bit too artsy, I think.

The other piece is actually two pieces - a pair of bedside tables featuring a tiny rear drawer, a curved main drawer, and floating case ...








At present I am working on two carver dining room chairs. They are copies of the DC 09 chair designed by the Japanese- Scandinavian duo, Kyoko Inoda and Nils Sveje, in 2011, and built by the Miyazaki factory in Japan ...





The issue here is that there are no plans, and I am having to estimate all components from photos alone. This has been a challenge! Plus lots of carving and working in 3D. But I think that I am winning. This is where I am up to ...

Before starting the arms and back ...



Working on the arms ...



The build is the last one on this index page:  https://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/index.html

I'll post some updates if there is interest.

Regards from Perth

Derek

................
It's good to know you survived covid and that you're ok, Derek...and of curse, still doing the incredible work that you're so well known for..You don't just do the easy stuff like most people...what you do is hard but you make it look easy...It is artistry in wood!!!!!!!

[Derek Cohen]

You are very kind, Jack. Many thanks once again.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[FrankAtl]

+1 to what Jack said! Beautiful work and thank you for sharing!

[Pedder]

Hi Derek, I missed your wonderful work on these Chairs! They are exactly what I would need in my living room!

Cheers
Pedder

[Tony Z]

I absolutely love the design and workmanship, however stylistically they would not work in our formal, Georgian style home!

[CStan]

Wonderful work. Really have hit stride.

[MarkSingleton]

Yes!

Derek chimes in!


Was out of town for a few days, so had missed the latter part of this thread.

Derek you are one of our most talented members here, glad to see you once
again.

I will always remember the build of "Hans Wegner's The Chair."

[Mr Eddie]

John, in the main, the pieces I build are original designs. It is perhaps notable that the items I have copied are chairs. In these cases, what I shared was a journey of discovery. I am not sure if you have read any of my build posts. My focus is not simply what to do, but why it is done. Chairs are three-dimensional in terms of the joinery stresses, and quite different from the demands found in rectangular furniture. Working out how a construction works and what the designer thought about the process ... well I learn so much from this.

Here's another chair I copied, without plans and using hand tools. Hans Wegner's The Chair (or Round Chair). One is the original and the other is the copy ....



That was an adventure


Regards from Perth

Derek

P.s. The DC 09 chairs are $4400 each in Oz.

Welcome back Derek! From my point of view chair makers are a special breed of woodworker.  Be honest now - did you get straight A's on your geometry courses in school? LOL  I always enjoy your posts as they make me think about my methods and ways I can improve them by implementing some of your ways of work.  Please keep posting - you have Emeritus status on this forum.
PS For the record I did poorly in geometry.  Yvonne sat next to me in class and her geometry was more interesting than anything on the blackboard!
Lonnie