Steve Whittlesey

My work is more about surviving, the innate sensuousness of material, and intimate connections, than it is about furnishings and décor. Creating ideas out of implausible, almost worthless salvage wood, and stretching the limits of structure and function is at the center of my work – it is how I try to answer questions about the value and importance of objects I live with. My pieces move, sway and tremble, and are not very accommodating – they demand respect for their unusual structures and tender connections. They are serviceable, if one understands their frailty and topography, and have the capacity to affect the simple rituals of daily life. The structures I create are meant to be collapsible and portable. They have the potential to be temporary.