Taimi Barty moved to the United States from Sweden in order to attend Harvard and Radcliffe College in 1990. She graduated with a degree in engineering in 1994 before moving to San Francisco, where she worked for a while as an environmental engineer, cleaning up petroleum hydrocarbons.
Engineering by day and woodworking by night, Taimi decided to attend the Fine Woodworking Program at College of the Redwoods. Studying the making of fine furniture under James Krenov for two years changed everything. The satisfaction of working with wood, creating graceful, simple and functional furniture from beautiful wood is what she loves to do.
Taimi now builds commissioned furniture in her shop in Fort Bragg and shows her work at B. Mori in San Francisco as well as at the Highlight Gallery and Coastside Gallery in Mendocino, CA.
Artist Statement:
Designing and building wood furniture makes me happy. My approach to the work begins with defining the purpose, or function, of the piece. I then build a mock-up to refine the ideas and to establish the right volume of the piece. Sometimes I have the specific plank for the project in mind before I begin the work while other times I drive across the country side visiting various lumber yards on a quest for the right wood. Once I actually begin working with the selected woods, however, it seems the design and form of the piece transforms again as the grain and physical parameters of the wood and my ideas merge. It used to worry me that I was not adhering to the original design, but now I expect and enjoy the fluid balance between form and function. My woodworking shop is my favorite place to be and I invite anyone who is interested to visit.
~ See Taimi's work in her gallery ~
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