Jamie Russell

Quotes from Jamie Russell

I’ve found I have to be con­sistent in my work days to be really productive. This means treating my work like a job. Getting up early and getting out to the shop at a consis­tent time is important. I find it essential in combating sea­sonal affective disorder to spend a lot of daylight time outdoors.

I split and haul my day’s fire­wood before work. To get my daily 30–40 minute walk in before dark during the winter months, I quit at 4:45pm. Once the sun’s below the horizon, so is my energy level. I’m hop­ing once the sun starts coming up earlier, and stays up later, I’ll get back to my old 40-hour weeks. If not, I’m debt-free and seem to be able to make a liv­ing on 30 hrs/wk.

The tool I’m most dependent on is the air-driven die grinder. That’s what I use to shape the details.

I love the immediacy of the lathe. No other tool shapes wood as quickly and efficiently, and no other single process lets you shape wood and han­dle the joinery all at once.

When I have long smooth curves to shape, I like to sharpen the spokeshaves I inherited from my Grampa. A sharp edge whispering through the wood makes me feel like a “real woodworker”.

When I was younger I seemed to have a backlog of fresh ideas waiting for me to have the time to make them. These days, the fresh ideas are fewer and I rely more on revisiting and refin­ing ideas I’ve used before. I’ll still sometimes catch an ani­mal’s gesture or see an image that just cries out to be made.

The best ideas appear whole in my mind’s eye. The rest of the time I have to drag them out a little bit at a time. Either way, I start with rough sketches (really rough, I can’t draw for beans), which I’ll refine as a full-scale drawing. This gives me a chance to see any joinery problems and to get the pro­portions right. If I’m having trouble visualizing a critter’s pose or a specific detail, I’ll make a plasticine mock-up to see what it can/should look like.

I would like to see new makers take chances. If you’re not sure, make it anyway; there will be another piece to use what this one taught you.

I’m tired of disposable commercial junk fur­niture because it’s a waste of diminishing resources.

Some of my best ideas have come from my cus­tomers; things I would never have built without their input. If I get someone who feeds my cre­ative process, it’s great. This is also the client who gives me free rein.

I’m very introspective so the majority of my work is self-directed.

How much work goes into a piece, and how hard it is to survive on what we can get for it, is the most understood aspect of furniture making.

In general, I admire other makers who have fresh ideas and outstanding technique in their work.

Michael Hosaluk has been my friend and inspi­ration throughout my career. He has a thirst for good work combined with a desire and ability to share what he finds. He’s opened more doors for me specifically, and the woodworking com­munity in general, than anyone else, maybe, in the world. He has an amazing ability to recog­nize what’s best in people and their work and to encourage them to develop it. Some other makers I like…Gord Peteran is the bad boy of Canadian woodworking. The first time I saw Judy Kinsley McKee’s work, all my bells rang. Garry Knox Bennett, like Gord Peteran, is a master of irreverence.

I’ve been in this game for 40 years. I came on the scene just in time for a reaction against mass production and the lifestyle it encouraged. Suddenly there was a national media voice for one-of-a-kind makers and folks like Art Carpenter, Sam Maloof, Wendel Castle, James Krenov and Jere Osgood. Suddenly there were all kinds of college and univer­sity courses to learn the trade, and self-taught guys like me could hang out a shingle and make a living at it. The result of this is that now there is a strong media voice for us, schools turning out outstanding makers and a consumer tool industry that I couldn’t have imagined when I started up. I think our future is secure.

Earning a living at building stu­dio furniture is very frustrating.

I’ve always fought being called an artist. I think of myself as a craftsman first, largely because so many “artists” who move into craft disciplines use the appel­lation as an excuse to build sloppy work.

The public at large is more comfortable with buying art; it seems to have a cachet that craft doesn’t. I think the market for custom furniture is shrink­ing, but the market for “bijou” – small one-of-a-kind pieces – is still fairly strong.