Article originally published in Splinters, July , 2006.
Maine Wood Products Association
WILTON--In an age where American automobiles are filled with foreign parts and children think chocolate milk comes from brown cows, there is no mistaking the fact that Gary Krauss' art comes straight from the trees, burls and all.
The fine furniture he creates seems a serendipitous byproduct of wood that would otherwise be bound for the burn pile, its craggy burls and blemishes making it unfit for a future as a two-by-four. It is within those blemishes that Krauss, a woodworker in Wilton, finds beauty, which he uses as a guide to form elegant armoires, dramatic dining sets and other uncommon live-edge furniture.
"It's the wood, warts and all," said Krauss, who founded his business Native Woods nine years ago. "It's the real tree - from bark edge to bark edge - and that's the charm of it. If you tried to cut this into straight lumber, you'd lose the story of that tree."
Not a single grain of that wood, which he buys off local loggers who wouldn't be able to sell it to a traditional saw mill because it is too distressed to be milled for dimensional lumber, is wasted in the process. The scraps are used by a local woodworker who creates pepper mills and pens and the sawdust is used as animal bedding at a nearby dairy farm. After the wild cherry, maple, beech and butternut logs are sawed and kiln- dried at an Industry saw mill, Krauss takes time to consider their future form. Pieces sit stacked in his workshop, awaiting their fate as frames or furniture.
"I can't take credit for the shapes - Mother Nature makes them. But, I can take some credit for releasing them," he admitted.
The call for Mother Nature's handiwork coupled with his vision is high. He sells his pieces at a thriving local co-op gallery in downtown Farmington called SugarWood and at galleries as far away as Sonoma, California. With second homes dominating the region at nearby ski resorts like Sugarloaf and Sunday River and vacation destinations like Rangeley and Belgrade Lakes just a few forests away, the market for his for his furniture is a burgeoning one. The sturdy beds infused with intricate details like delicate wooden leaves that Krauss creates are usually sold before they ever make it into the gallery.
His style, which marries arts and crafts with liveedge, isn't completely his own. Early furniture in the days before power tools was similar, Krauss explained. "This has been with us for a long time but we've added a level of sophistication to it," he said.
The addition of Krauss' son-in-law, Chris Keene, to his shop guarantees that the live-edge art form will continue for generations to come.
For more information about Native Woods, call (207) 645-2400 or visit them online at www.nativewoods.net.
New Member Profile: Native Woods
Chris Keene and Gary Krauss of Native Woods
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