Based in Bangall, New York, Chris Lehrecke designs inspired works of art in the form of fine furniture. Although trained as a studio artist, Lehrecke has been designing and building furniture since 1982. While his early pieces were influenced by a number of enduring design traditions–African, Asian, Shaker, and Scandinavian–they consistently maintained a modern sensibility. A primitive quality remains evident in all the work, but so, too, does a sense of refinement in design and material. The simplicity of Charles and Ray Eames clearly informs these pieces, as does George Nakashima’s alliance of handcraft and machine production. Lehrecke owes his superb touch with wood, however, to his own crisp design sensibility, and he is attuned to production methods that will generate new forms. Design and fabrication have always been allies in his work; whether in limited production or one-of-a-kind pieces, the physical process of making his own pieces has always been essential to Lehrecke’s practice.
“Combining my knowledge of how things were made and my appreciation of modern design, I began developing a spare, well-made style of furniture. I had admired a range of aesthetics from African to Japanese to Shaker and mid-century modern work. Designers such as Jean Prouve and Hans Wegner, who worked closely with fabricators, had a great influence on my work. Making and designing furniture were inseparable from the start. Although many of my influences were from the past, I was discovering materials and techniques that were unique to my time. The designs were simple and the materials and fabrication needed to be pushed as far as possible. In working this way I have tried to create designs that feel contemporary without feeling exclusive to the last twenty years.”
In 1997, he moved to New York’s Hudson Valley with his wife, jeweler Gabriella Kiss, and their sons, Jack and August. The barn he built on the property and its surrounding meadows offer the space not only to collect a broad range of local woods, but to have them milled and dried. These varied woods–walnut, cherry, ash, maple, oak, hickory, butternut–as well as the beautiful surroundings offer continuing inspiration.
Lehrecke’s work is included in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum, which also awarded him its distinguished he received the Brooklyn Museum of Art/Modernism Young Designer Award in 1997. In addition to designing furniture and lighting for Ralph Pucci International, he has collaborated with other gifted artisans, among them E.R. Butler, Ted Muehling, and Gabriella Kiss.