Makers - Sean Woolsey
The Maker
Sean Woolsey, the man, myth and legend behind the aptly named Sean Woolsey Studio, is an enigma of the furniture craftsman community. The Costa Mesa-based artist has left himself to his own devices to create some of our favorite furniture and art on the market.
At Iron and Resin, we focus on building apparel that lasts, so Sean's ethos around creating fine art "made to last generations" made him a obvious choice for our latest installment of the Makers Series. The attention to quality and detail that rings through each of Sean's pieces is a breath of fresh air in a world of rubber-stamped, mass produced products.
"I create pieces of meaning, that will last years, and hope the owners are as proud to own it as we were to make it." —Sean Woolsey
Our latest installment of the Makers series has us asking Sean about some of his influences and the concepts behind the furniture he's making today.
How did you find yourself making furniture? I have been influenced by my father, who was a stained glass artist and film photographer. I gleaned as much as I could from him while growing up, and we even shared a studio for several years. I grew up skateboarding, building skate ramps, and tearing apart things to see how they were made. I still do that in fact. Things got more formal when I took some classes and had an apprenticeship. I set up my own studio soon after in 2011. We are proud to make everything within a 35 mile radius of our Costa Mesa studio, and ship worldwide.
We heard you're a fan of Japanese Philosophy. How does that relate to your work? Wabi-Sabi, a Japanese philosophy, is a large influence on my work and life. It recognizes the beauty in imperfect things which bear the imprint of time. Wabi Sabi is about the minor and the hidden, the tentative and the ephemeral. It finds true beauty in the organic.
My art is episodic and experimental, and largely inspired by the outdoors and my travels. Whether on copper, sheet metal, or canvas, my work is all original and collected worldwide.
