COLLABORATION AS OPPORTUNITY

Collaboration

The secrets of how, why, and with whom such collaborations succeed are fairly clear-cut. Graber has worked directly with clients, or with building/design professionals for mutual clients. Recently, he collaborated with architect David Bower from Minneapolis, who was also the client. This led to a dynamic working relationship in which the ''secrets'' of success played a central role. The three most important factors described by both Dean and David were communication, patience, and mutual respect - including an appreciation for the other's profession.


Communication

Throughout the design and construction process, Dean and David held several face-to-face meetings, spoke frequently by phone, shared CADD drawings by email, and sent hand sketches by fax. ''After we got started,'' Dean reports, ''David called almost once a week with changes or with further questions. I didn't mind the questions though, since they led to something special for both of us.'' And in fact, as Dean points out, with design changes continuing during construction, ''it doesn't get any more custom than that!''

David, an experienced architect, had not designed furniture since his days as a student at the University of Minnesota. ''I had a lot to learn. My questions for Dean were about what wood can do, that is, how best to make joints, dimensions of wood that make sense, expansion directions and so on.'' As David developed design ideas, he would consult with Dean to find out whether his idea would be easy to implement or would takes many hours of shop time. Dean created mock-ups of certain details such as the sliding joint between drawers to help David with his decision-making.


Patience

''The trick,'' admits David, ''was for Dean to have a lot of patience with me.'' Since this was a dresser he was designing for himself, it was very personal and had to be designed just right. It also meant he could be as creative as he wanted to be while allowing for suggestions from Dean about the nature of wood and the construction process. David also appreciated that he did not have the same external time pressures for this project as he would working on a project for one of his firm's clients.


Mutual Respect

As collaborators, Dean and David recognized that each brought something unique to the venture. Each had knowledge, skills and experience to draw upon to enhance the project. It was not simply a case of the trained architect always having the best design ideas, or the experienced woodworker sticking with traditional uses of materials. Because of their mutual respect, the design process was a friendly, ongoing, give-and-take adventure. Dean believes this factor is important in his work with any client, as most usually bring ideas to the table.


Design

David explained why he designed the dresser the way he did. He started with two guidelines. First, he wanted the dresser to be easily transportable. David and his wife recognize their careers may lead to moves now and then, so heavy, bulky furniture would not be practical. Second, ''just because,'' he wanted to avoid using plywood; he understands it has advantages in certain situations, but preferred to try a design without it.

David's first idea was that the drawers and cases would be interchangeable, stackable, and inexpensive boxes, able to take abuse. However, after factoring in the costs of custom labor and getting the chance to work with some beautiful solid cherry wood that became available, he recognized that this dresser was not going to an expendable architectural experiment, but rather ''the real thing.'' With that in mind, he began thinking of the piece as very fine furniture. He maintained his original two guidelines and some of the early ideas, but focused on designing something that would be very beautiful and worthy of its cost.

In the end the primary feature making David’s design unique is that each drawer and case is it’s own box. The cases can be slid together using large dovetailed ways to create a solid dresser, or separated for easy transport.

For David, the drawer faces were a make-or-break part of the project. He decided to leave them for last so he could actually visit the shop during that phase of construction to work out important visual facets with Dean. ''Again,'' David reports, ''Dean's patience at that stage of the game stopped me from pushing for quick answers and instead allowed me to find just the right solution.''


Construction

The choice of wood for the piece (other than the drawers) was locally cut solar kiln-dried select cherry. The finish is three coats of lindseed oil for a deep rich color and a coat of wax to bring out the sheen.

Construction was involved but straightforward. The base and legs are 8/4'' solid cherry mortised and tennoned together. The top of the chest is a bookmatch of two pieces of 5/4 cherry with a slightly curved back splash added on back edge.

Drawers are basswood for it's light weight and stability. Drawer bottoms are also ½'' basswood. Drawers were given a spray coat of clear shellac and mounted on full extension steel ball bearing slides. Each drawer case consists of ¾'' back and sides with all grain running horizontally. Backs were rabbeted and glued into dados in sides flush with the rear of the case.

To make each case stackable and moveable ''dovetailed ways'' were cut from ½'' thick quarter sawn cherry and screwed half onto the case below and the other on the case above. Spacing to allow for seasonal movement was accomplished with Dean's trusty library card. The ways were relieved along their length except for the last 5'' of each end to allow a case to be set upon another half the way and then slid together with the ways engaging the last few inches.

The drawer fronts took the longest. David visited the shop to lend his hand to the piece. At this point the design of the fronts was not complete, though 5/8'' blanks were ready. Upon David's arrival the first decision was the bevel around the edge of each drawer front. Once that was done David had to decide how much to carve on the fronts. After several mock-ups it was decided to slightly dado a plateau off each end about three inches in from the bevel. This produced a second layer with shadow lines and more interest; it also produced a line up the front of the case that followed the inside edge of the legs. Finally, over a period of a day and a half, David chip-carved the inside or highest plateau to produce a striking wave-like texture.