Summer 2022

From Boatbuilder to Furniture Craftsman

by Karen Hughes Irvine

Geoff McKonly’s journey as a furniture maker is much like his creations: unconventional. A former boatbuilder, McKonly not only taught himself the fine art of furniture making, but also has chosen to produce creations using underutilized wood varieties that are both unique and difficult to obtain.

“I enjoy playing with design and the natural material of wood,” he said of the wood species he prefers, such as sycamore and locust. “The fact that in the end you can have a beautiful piece to look at, enjoy, and to use appealed to me.”

McKonly, whose shop is located in Easthampton, Massachusetts, developed an eye for design as a student in photography at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He and a friend started a nonprofit enterprise teaching boat-making skills to children and adults. In the process, he discovered he enjoyed working with his hands and the woodworking process more than teaching.

He started making furniture when he discovered he could not purchase affordable pieces that were well made and also satisfied his appreciation for a wood’s grain, its innate imperfections, and a design that was simple, minimalist, and similar to that of Japanese woodworking. He soon developed a fondness for the entire furniture-making process and the end result of having an object that was beautiful and held a utilitarian purpose.

“I like the subtractive approach to furniture design,” said McKonly, referring to an artistic approach in which material – such as stone or wood – is gradually subtracted from the whole to produce a piece of art. “I like seeing how light I can make a piece. The challenge of it.”

Another challenge is finding mills that can supply him with his favorite domestic, unprocessed woods. One of his favorite woods for furniture is walnut, due to the variety of colors in its grain, ranging from golden tans to rich russet browns. Many mills steam the wood to purposely make the grain more even-toned and uniform.

“Larger mills will steam the walnut, and if you ask for un-steamed lumber, they look at you as if you are mad,” said McKonly. His pursuit for his preferred varieties has led him to mills of all types, from a rudimentary working family farm operation in the Berkshires to a small custom operation in Thompson, Connecticut, owned and operated by Hancock Forest Products.

“The owner is a graduate from the legendary North Bennett Street School, a century-old craft, trade, and artisan school in Boston,” said McKonly. “The people there have a real strong background in wood and woodworking and understand the process. They are wood nerds like me. They’ll pull things out saying, look at this grain, this curl. And they let me wander around on my own to search for wood I want to work with.”

McKonly said sawyers who are willing to alert him when they come across his desired wood varieties save him precious time in this one-man operation.

“It is a who other thing that I don’t need to do,” he said. “I can save a lot of time and aggravation if I don’t have to first persuade a sawyer to sell me the wood I am looking for. I also don’t have a ton of storage. I can’t just go to a place and take a rough-sawn log. I need to be a bit more careful about what I do buy.”

McKonly gets most of his commission work through word of mouth and potential buyers finding him through web searches. His preferred customer is one who appreciates his style, a modern take on traditional Japanese design, rather than a make-to-order approach.

One example is his current commissioned project, a Butsudan cabinet, which is a small Buddhist alter or shrine for the home. The cabinet’s front doors have a prominent Kumiko pattern often seen in Japanese shoji screens. The small horizontal and vertical pieces of basswood form a grid, and the exact fit is hand-cut so the angled pieces pressure-fit together without the need for glue. The piece also reflects his appreciation for domestic wood: the frame on the cupboard doors is made of sycamore. More examples of McKonly’s work can be seen on his website geoffmckonlyfurniture.com.

Click here to read the article on the Northern Woodlands Magazine website.