Also A Carpenter: David Lynch

David Lynch

Best Known For:

Film Director and Artist

Loves:
Coffee, Wood and Big Boy Restaurants
Construction Experience:

Furniture Designer

Eagle Scout
Currently:

Showing his artwork at Fondation Cartier in Paris

Hosting a "David Lynch Weekend" dedicated to Transcendental Meditation
Favorite Tool:

Meditation
Sensitive Carpenter Level:

Fire Walk With Me

Coffee Bean Floors

Ah...that delicious first sip of morning coffee is anticipated and longed for as you wake to the deep, lush and wonderful smell of French Roast, Sumatra Mandheling or Eithiopia Yrgacheffe brewing. I really do enjoy nothing more than a great cup of coffee.
Recently, a client of mine asked me to prototype a coffee bean tile to use as her new kitchen floor, a coffee bean terrazzo if you will, so I've taken my love of the delicious brew to new extremes by infusing the wonderful aromas with polyurethane resin.

Once people discover you work with plastic, they have all sorts of ideas that involve plastic. I've spent less time working with wood and more time becoming somewhat of an expert in release agents and the multitudes of molding materials.

Here's what I discovered prototyping the coffee bean terrazzo:

• Coffee bean floors are not a casual weekend warrior project
• Green unroasted beans have more moisture than roasted beans, so when combined with the 2-part polyurethane the moisture creates bubbles
• As the plastic cures, it heats up and releases vapors which mixed with the coffee beans, smells really good and then really weird
• Even a sub-par casting came out looking pretty awesome
• It's a really expensive process
  

And just an FYI-David Lynch has his own line of fair trade organic coffees available to purchase on his website. His slogan is "It's all in the beans...and I'm just full of beans".

David Lynch Furniture

"I day-dream of furniture" -David Lynch

David Lynch designs furniture. I think that's really cool.
He seems to like everything I like-wood, designing furniture, coffee and David Lynch films.
Influenced by mid-century minimalist design, David Lynch created a line of furniture a few years back and which was sold exclusively through Casanostra, a design company based in Switzerland. Some of Lynch's first pieces were sold through Skank World, a mid century furniture shop in Los Angeles.
Pictured are a couple of those pieces. They are simple and complex-eye catching and improvisational-much like his films.

His furniture is also featured in the movie Lost Highway, where his personal home (designed by Lloyd Wright) serves as one of the settings. An article from Form Magazine further discusses David Lynch's design influences and inspirations.

His aesthetic, lifestyle and vision inspires me. I also day-dream of furniture.


*UPDATE
search The City of Absurdity website under furniture for links to archived information.
reference "David Lynch", by Justus Nieland for more info on furniture/art design

David Lynch Week Kick Off

Ever wonder what David Lynch has to do with carpentry? Quite a lot actually. This week I will be focusing on all things David Lynch-the artful filmmaker and also...sensitive carpenter."Catching the Big Fish-Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity" is Mr. Lynch's new book about his experience as an artist and the effect that meditation has had on his life and career.
It is a sort of meditation in and of itself-more than a book about meditating. Lynch offers a window into his mind and reveals his thoughts in a personal, funny and heartfelt way and he discusses his love of wood.
In a few pages he talks about working with wood and how he loves to chew on Ponderosa Pine pitch . He says the flavor "will make you crazy, in a good way"- ironically, that also describes the author.