Cartouche Recipients
2013: Will Neptune
Will Neptune is a furniture maker and carver working in the Boston area. He credits two summer courses at Boston University's Program in Artisanry (now offered by UMass) with inspiring him to pursue woodworking as a profession. He continued his training by attending the two year furniture making course at the North Bennet Street School in Boston, where he became a full time instructor and taught for 15 years in the Furnituremaking Program.
He left his teaching position at NBSS in order to devote more time to commissioned work for furniture and architectural elements. He continues to teach at workshops across the country and also writes for Fine Woodworking magazine, which has published a series of his articles explaining construction techniques used for typical furniture forms.
It’s the problem-solving that keeps custom work interesting, he says. “You never know what the next job will bring.”
Ball & Claw Footstool with Will Neptune
2012: Alan Breed
Al has spent his life around antiques and has repaired and reproduced some of the finest originals. He has written numerous articles on cabinetmaking and has lectured at museums across the country. Perhaps best-known for his reproduction of the Nicholas Brown desk and bookcase, Al’s work has been exhibited in several large museums and can be found in the permanent collections of many others.
2011: Benjamin C. Hobbs
Ben Hobbs has been building period reproduction furniture for nearly 30 years. After teaching high school math for 10 years, Ben's passion for early American furniture and architecture drew him into the shop in 1982. Since then, Ben has operated as a bespoke custom furniture maker reproducing fine early American pieces, focusing on Southern and local NC examples. After training all three of his sons to be accomplished furniture makers, Ben opened his shop doors in 1996 to train students in his woodworking school.
Ben's work and/or school has been featured in Fine Woodworking, Southern Living, Woodshop News, Woodworkers' Journal, The Virginian Pilot, Coast Watch Magazine, Kansas City Woodworkers' Guild, and OurState Magazine.
Carving Out History (UNC | Carolina Photojournalism)
2010: Steven Lash
Steven Lash is the co-founder and past President of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers. He has been reproducing eighteenth and early nineteenth century period furniture as an avocation for over forty-five years. He lectures frequently on the design and construction of his period pieces, and his work has been featured in numerous journals including Fine Woodworking Magazine, Fine Woodworking’s Design Book Three and Four, Woodwork Magazine, Home Furniture, The Bulletin of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, and American Period Furniture.
In 2006, three of Steve’s pieces were selected for exhibition in Contemporary Classics, Selections from the Society of American Period Furniture Makers at the Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia. His reproduction of Benjamin Franklin’s glass armonica was played at the 2011 Glass Music Festival that was held at Williamsburg, and at the March, 2012 opening of the SAPFM's Traditions of Craft exhibition at the Connecticut Historical Society. In 2000, Steve won the National Watch and Clock Collector's Craftsmanship Award, and in 2010 he was awarded the SAPFM's Cartouche Award for lifetime achievement.
When Steve is not building period furniture, he practices orthodontics full time at West Bloomfield, Michigan. He is an Adjunct Clinical Professor of Orthodontics at the University of Michigan, where he teaches Craniofacial Orthodontics. He is a past President of the Associates of the American Wing at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Furniture in the SAPFM Gallery
2009: Dennis Bork
Dennis Bork's father was a journeyman wood patternmaker, so Dennis grew up around woodworking, making things in his father's workshop. He got a degree in physics and worked in that field for three years. He loved physics, but decided to change fields and took an apprenticeship as a wood patternmaker, like his father had done. Bork took his early training and work and combined it with frequent trips to museums to study period pieces. He has amassed an extensive library and says he believes in attending seminars and classes to continue his education.
Dennis has been chosen for the "Early American Life" magazine Directory of Traditional Crafts for over 19 consecutive years, (1994-2012).
Furniture in the SAPFM Gallery