Eric Wallner

I consider English my second language: the first is seeing. Or more accurately, visualizing.

At an early age I discovered that it was more satisfying to build the things I wanted than to buy them. While often motivated by insufficient funds, making things taught me patience, craftsmanship, even perseverance, but mostly it taught me how things work. Over time I found that unrelated projects like building airplanes or learning to sew had the marvelous tendency to cross pollinate future undertakings with more creative and better solutions. It opened my eyes to the possibility of using materials and construction methods in unexpected ways. And I could take on increasingly complicated projects that actually worked — like telescopes, airplanes, or a quirky, complex house.

Before formal schooling in Design my interest was, and is, in the natural world. I painted birds and ground telescope mirrors to study astronomy. Post high school I attended Design school to be an illustrator while simultaneously getting sidetracked with the building of two ultralight airplanes. One was used for aerial advertising. First attempts at furniture design combined lessons from aircraft construction with an interest in R. Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes — some truly wacky tube and cable-braced tensegrity chairs were brought to life during this time. There was also a lightweight 4x5” film view camera milled from scrap aircraft aluminum made for Nature photography, a passion of mine. It employed a type of structural truss normally used to support aircraft gas tanks inside wings, to stiffen the camera while remaining remarkably lightweight. Again, skills and insights acquired while building one project were applied to others with good effect. Forty years on the camera is still a joy to make photographs with, rivaling the most advanced digital commercial cameras. It may be tedious to use, but that simply gives me the time to actually study the subject closely and create the best possible image.

Working as a furniture designer-builder, I seek clean forms, novel structure, and economical use of materials, but always at the service of comfort. My furniture designs, thus far, avoid traditional joinery and the associated furniture styles because I enjoy the challenge of working within my own specific skill set and tools to create something new. My Table & Chairs are a good example of this. Its success stems from the clarity of the design — comfort first, with the intentional removal of the unnecessary.

Customers tell me how their table and chairs play a central role in family life, how easily friends relax around it after dinner, how their children prefer doing homework at theirs even if they can’t explain why. It is incredibly gratifying to learn my well-considered handiwork has become a cherished part of other people’s lives.

Be well,

Eric J. Wallner Dodgeville, Wisconsin, USA