Hayden Lemire

"This table and bowl set is a piece that I designed and made to tell a story. I think far too many woodworkers use material from far away places and only use it for the aesthetic value. I wanted to create a piece that says something more about the wood that is used to make it. All the Maple that was used in the construction of this piece was saved from the chipper right outside my Boston apartment.                                                                   I woke up one morning to the sound of chainsaws and the rev of the diesel powered wood chipper. I looked outside to see a rather large maple tree (for the middle of Boston) being chewed up into woodchips. I ran outside and immediately asked the guys cutting it down if I could have some. They said I could have what I could carry. So being the healthy six foot two, two hundred and thirty pound male that I am, I grabbed about 600 pounds of the stuff. That amounted to approximately 12-15 of the bottom of the trunk.     They seemed excited that I was actually going to make furniture with!
 

I worked with the wood from the exact spot it was cut down to the final placement of the table and bowls in the gallery. I think this interaction not only gives the woodworker better perspective on where their lumber comes from, but also the transformation that would goes through to become fine furniture. This piece certainly does not look like a piece of furniture found on the side of the road in the middle of Boston, but on a basic level, that's what it is." Hayden Lemire 

Hayden Lemire graduated in sculpture and is currently studying for a major in Industrial Design.