Talented artist and furniture-maker Greg Klassen’s beautiful river- and lake-like desks and tables that straddle the line between furniture and art. He sees every piece of furniture he creates as a piece of functional art, and himself as a creator rather than a producer.
Due to his relationship with a local sawmill, Klassen has access to pieces of raw wood, which means that he can make use of its natural forms and beautiful imperfections for his creative furniture. These organic forms lend natural power to the “rivers” and “lakes” on his tables, which are completed with custom-cut panes of glass and look much like features on a topographical map. It might seem like an impossible feat to cut glass to fit perfectly between the two overtly irregular forms of these parallel slabs of wood, and although it is certainly no easy task, it is made possible by the unique technique Greg has developed over the years.
Klassen, who has a degree in theology, writes, “I try to marry the natural beauty of the wood with the skilled craftsmanship of the maker. When the two come together, a piece can really sing!”