"He came on his bicycle, with the chair nearly finished, he had not yet
decided on the back piece. He turned my shop into a disaster area. He would
keep sawing blanks for the back piece. And he would put one in and he would
draw on his pipe. He had a low voice and a calm way, he'd look back at that
back piece and say "Ya, well, maybe, what would happen if we turn it upside
down?" and we'd turn it upside down and now that wouldn't work. And then
he'd saw another one and the clock was going around and around. It was one
o'clock and two o'clock and finally he put a piece in there. He looked at it
and then he went over to the bandsaw and he took a little bit here and a
little bit there and he put it in there and he backed off and he said "Ya,
well maybe it's better that way." and that was the back piece for the chair,
the way it is now and forever. And it is not to my credit but the only thing
that I cherish is the memory because he did not live after that. People like
it it is a very comfortable chair, I am sitting in one of them right now
talking to you. The prototype was finished in Jim Krenov's shop and that he
and Vidar were very close friends. That's nice for people to remember. It
was around 1970."
James Krenov August 2007
Fine Woodworking Magazine |
