Trip to Berkeley, Sgraffito

I drive past this doorway every day. I watched it grow.  It is just – simply –  spectacular.

This is the doorway to Sgraffito Workshop, and Oola and I were privileged to make use of it.  Lawrence Gandsey and Daryl Rush work here.  I first met Lawrence through the website which Renate Woodbury,  designer and formerly one of my web design students, built for him.  Through the photos Renate added to his site, I viewed  the beauty of Lawrence’s  furniture with amazement.  He uses environmentally responsible wood in a manner that is responsive to the structure and qualities of the wood.

One of the projects Lawrence had in progress when we visited was this bench:

Oola was a bit apprehensive of the vertical metal pieces but appreciated the finer qualities of the wood sensibility.

Here is a detail of a second version of this bench.  This bench, Lawrence explained, is more to the client’s taste.

Lawrence uses reclaimed wood.  The checks and cracks in this bench have a metallic fill. (And you can see that Oola’s fears were unfounded.)

Here is an image of one of Lawrence’s tables which I borrowed from his web site.  You should go there and check out some of his awesome (in the truest sense of the word) work. There is a page that shows the installation of a table 27’long and 6’wide!  It had to be put together in place.

From the San Pablo Ave. side of the shop we caught the smell of Cedar.  Or was it Redwood?  Daryl Rush was busily but calmly working on a special hot tub for a client.

I caught the theme of “doors” in this place.  First there was the entry door.  Another door – the one that leads into the workshop gallery –  stands about 12ft tall.  Two rough-hewn, thick slabs of beautiful wood fitted to shaped slabs of inch-thick glass.

Then there was this door, in process, in Daryl’s space:

You should check out Daryl Rush Builders website  for some finished examples of his extraordinary work.  And catch some detail photos of the Sgraffito Workshop entry door.

The whole of Sgraffito workshop is a wonder for the eyes.  Oola grabbed the camera and started shooting.

Pretty good for a scrappy, buck-toothed doll with unmanageable hair.