THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 22, 1994 TAG: 9406210136
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
DATELINE: 940622 LENGTH: Long
The trunk and large branches become firewood. The twigs and leaves are recycled into shredded mulch. And this year Jon Dobbs also has found a use for those in-between branches that don't quite fit the firewood or mulch category.
{REST} Authentic Rustic Furniture.
That's the name Dobbs and his partner, George Drinko, have given to their new business. The two are fashioning whimsical furniture from willow branches, sticks and rough hewn slabs of lumber with the bark intact.
Glued, nailed or doweled together, the sturdy chairs, tables, beds, love seat and odds and ends such as bird houses and hat racks look like furniture out of fairy tales. Mama and papa bear could have slept on the bed with its pine head board and foot board made from the natural shape of small pine tree trunks and branches. The tiny child's chair looks like baby bear's own.
The idea for building rustic furniture actually didn't come to Dobbs from a fairy tale. Last year he visited Santa Fe, N.M., where stick furniture is all the rage. He returned, inspired with the ultimate in recycling for a wood cutter, and enlisted the services of Drinko, a carpenter.
``He's the kind of person that can see something in his mind,'' Dobbs said of Drinko, ``and can do it without a set of plans.''
``Open mind'' furniture, they call it. An open mind is what a stick furniture craftsman has to have to even begin to create a piece. Dobbs and Drinko let the curves in the wood tell them what to make.
``When we go in the shop, there's a pile of sticks and we have to look at it,'' Dobbs explained. ``You actually have to take time to sit there and just look at it. Then you say, `That looks like a chair right there.' ''
A chaise lounge out on the lawn of Dobbs' home was the perfect example. Dobbs and Drinko looked at a small skinny pine tree trunk bent almost at a right angle and saw a chaise in their minds.
What they ``saw'' were the side pieces for the level bed and slanted back of a chaise. By cutting the pine tree trunk in half lengthwise, they had two matching side pieces. Rough hewn slabs of milled lumber became the bed and back and other pieces of wood, the legs.
Building the furniture takes more than an open mind. It takes a creative bent, too. Each piece is unique with a design and flair all its own.
``It is functional furniture,'' Dobbs said, ``but it's actually art.''
Dobbs and Drinko have some furniture for sale but no showroom. If you are interested in seeing what they have, call 428-7919. Prices range from $75 to $100 for an end table up to $1,000 for something like a custom, solid white oak bed. But what they really like is the idea of custom building the furniture as they did for their first customer, Bonnie Woodington.
``He built me a bed, a queen-sized bed with headboard and footboard,'' Woodington said.
She was helping Dobbs and Drinko set up their furniture for a photo session. Woodington has a vested interest in their success because now she wants them to custom build a mantelpiece for her home.
Although a chaise or chair or love seat are made more comfortable with the addition of pillows, the bare furniture is very sit-able. ``It's amazingly comfortable,'' Woodington said as she plopped down on a settee.
You also have to sit on the furniture to realize how sturdy it is. There are no wiggly chair legs or bending chair backs. Dobbs said a piece fell out of his truck as he was going 30 mph down Atlantic Avenue recently.
``It bounced all over the place,'' he said, ``but it was as strong as it was the day we built it.''
Dobbs has put his first attempt at making stick furniture, a willow loveseat and table, out under the trees in his front yard. He thinks the fanciful furniture is more than just lawn furniture, that it says something about lifestyle, too.
``It makes life a little more fun to have something like this,'' Dobbs said, ``and a little less complicated.''
P.S. THE POPULAR FLYWAY FEAST, hosted by Back Bay Restoration Foundation, is from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Flyway Hunt Club on Princess Anne Road, half a mile beyond the North Carolina line. Tickets are $20 a person or $35 a couple and include all the food you can eat and a membership in the foundation. An added dividend is the good feeling you'll get from knowing you've helped Back Bay. Call 587-6683.
ROADSIDE VEGETABLE STANDS are open now and most have a taste of the good things to come. Onions, squashes, raspberries and blackberries are among the goodies I've found from local farms. Some stands have been carrying some Florida sweet corn that's been really sweet and by next week some early local corn should be ready.
by CNB