RICHARD WEIGAND’S BLOG
Quote – William Morris – Father of Arts & Crafts
Never forget the material you are working with and try always to use it for doing what it can do best. If you feel yourself hampered by the material in which you are working instead of being helped by it you have so far not learned your business anymore than a...
History of a Tree
It's astonishing, and humbling, to consider the history of a tree. On my property I have a 300 year old white oak. That’s older than the United States. Just think of what that tree has experienced, and what has happened during the time it's been growing right there:...
Favorite Quote – John Ruskin
One of my favorite quotes is from John Ruskin: “The highest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it.” Seems Ruskin is talking about growth, and beauty, and progress in an artisan's understanding of art. How that is at least as...
Figure In Wood
All trees have their own figure, which is not to be mistaken for grain. Grain refers to the overall direction the wood fibers grow; figure means the odd lines and shapes and knitting that occur when the tree's growth has been interfered with, by nature or by man. An...
Handmade or Mass Production
Sort of an overriding factor in furniture making is Wabi Sabi, the Japanese art of imperfection. It’s the hand of the maker. While I try to make a piece as perfect as I can, perfect for me includes imperfection. The differences between handmade and manufactured or...
Weigand Presents Artistry in Striking Imperfections
Richard Weigand is a self taught wood worker with an impressive background reproducing Greene & Greene furniture. Weigand's work is reflective and organic revealing inspiration from many greats in art and architecture such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Greene &...
What is Beauty – Part 4 of 4
The simple thought is, if beauty gives you pleasure you should surround yourself with it. The challenge is, to do something to create beauty or turn the things you are given that you see as not beautiful into something that is, in your opinion, beautiful. The...
What is Beauty – Part 3
People should have beauty in their lives – whatever it is to that person. I like helping people get that, something that is beautiful by their own standards. I enjoy helping others experience that feeling of being rich, that can be imparted by being surrounded by...
What is Beauty – Part 2
Everyone appreciates beauty, but nobody agrees on what is beautiful. There’s a house near us that is junked beyond belief and I think, my god, how does someone live in that? But I guarantee you, in some way and to some degree, the owner sees all that junk as...
What is Beauty
Appreciation of beauty is part of our natural makeup, but it’s affected by a lot of things, like how you’re brought up… It comes down to a way of seeing. You can look at a piece and see that its color is perfect, that it’s fibonaccially perfect, that it does...