I’ve always considered thoughtfully designed furniture as the smallest scale of architectural expression. If you think about it, it has everything that any building or interior has; concept, material, method, structure, program. And…. the really good stuff, knits it all together to fully realize Vitruvius’s concept of “firmness, commodity and delight” in architecture. And speaking of the really good stuff, I’ve been regularly documenting the furniture design of my good friend, David L. Hymes. Years ago, we shared space… and late nights… in the University of Maryland’s architecture school design studios, where we both obtained our architectural degrees. David went on to do what you see pictured here in this post, and I went on to become a photographer. The same education, channeled through two different minds to produce very varied creativity. That was and is the beauty of architectural education: learning to see with your own eyes. With that said, here are a few examples of what we both do.
