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Michael Elkan Studio Maple Burl Wood Clock & Stamp Dispenser - $60 (Essex / Caldwell)
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GOOD WORKING / COSMETIC CONDITION - bottom slides off to reveal "hidden compartment" for stamp or label dispenser or whatever you'd like to use it for.
measures approx 7" x 2.5" x 2"
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Deceptively simple in design, the furniture of artist and woodworker Michael Elkan reveals the influence of mid-century modernism and the American Craftsman style and renders prominent the raw, rustic and natural beauty of wood.
In 1973, Elkan quit his job as a fashion designer and, with his wife, trekked across the United States. Upon arriving in Oregon, Elkan became enamored with the state’s forests and decided to settle there. After several years of farm and forestry work, Elkan became deeply interested in maple burl wood and began making live-edge burl boxes.
By 1980, Elkan established Silver Splinter (later Michael Elkan Studio) where he designed and produced items such as decorative boxes, jewelry boxes, console tables, stools and other furniture and objects. That year, Elkan’s unique approach to design caught the eye of acclaimed American designer and architect George Nakashima, who bought several of Elkan’s pieces to sell in his studio.
In 1993, Elkan was commissioned to create furniture for Oregon’s newly opened Museum at Warm Springs. Two years later, he wrote his book, Reading the Wood: Techniques and Projects from a Master Woodworker.
Elkan decided to retire from woodworking in 2002. After closing his studio, he moved to Mexico to explore other artistic endeavors such as architecture, garden design and creating cement furniture.
Before he died in 2014, Elkan’s pieces were shown in several major gallery exhibitions and featured at the Smithsonian Craft Show, the American Craft Museum and elsewhere. Today, Elkan’s works are held in many private collections, including that of acclaimed textile designer Jack Lenor Larsen and others, and are highly sought by interior designers, decorators and collectors of 20th-century wood furniture.