objects purposefully handbuilt with skill and care
-FURNITURE-
-DESIGN-
-CONSERVATION-
CARRIE JAZWIECKI
OWNER, PEERLESS HANDCRAFT
FOUNDER, HEAD, HEART AND HAND
With over thirty years experience making and designing furniture and finely crafted accessories, I keep looking forward to each new project.
HISTORIC PERIOD DESIGN SERVICE
FURNITURE CONSERVATION
I’m a creative professional from Buffalo, NY, working in Livingston, Montana. I reproduce furniture from the early and mid 20th century, provide historic period design service, furniture conservation and build home and office furnishings in my workshop Peerless Handcraft. I work directly with clients remotely or on site.
BEAUTIFUL DESIGN ENDURES
Combining the fields of design and furniture making, I understand the integrity of handbuilt objects. That’s how I create valuable and beautiful furnishings with a strong presence, aiming to capture timeless results.
I strive to make unique objects both big and small that look good and work even better.
PRINCIPLE ONE
combined knowledge
and mutual trust
I trust in my clients' knowledge about their vision. In return, I ask them to trust in my experience.
MY FOCUS & EXPERIENCE
LEARN
I’m a graduate of Purchase College, a small art school north of New York City, where I studied printmaking. As a student, the Arts and Crafts movement, with its appreciation of master craftsmanship, emphasis on visible construction, and use of colors and patterns from nature provided valuable inspiration to me. I visited many places in New York, collecting measured plans of furniture, making note of upholstery techniques, finer points of construction and joinery, finishing methods, and I filled sketchbooks with notes on textiles, tiles, and prints. I absorbed all this research, incorporating it into my work.
WORK
Inspired by the surroundings, I reproduced furniture, first for my own lakeside bungalow, then for a growing number of private collectors. My use of correct construction and finish methods generated conservation and restoration work and historic design consultation projects. I employed detail-oriented discipline and skills perfected through printmaking to the rigors of reproducing historic furniture finishes. Decorative patterns from my wood block prints translated into functional textiles like pillows, bed linens, and window panels. Head, Heart and Hand, my company, was founded during this period.
A Gustav Stickley Chair, 1901
DISCOVER
I apprenticed with master printers, lived and studied printmaking in Italy, and later traveled through Europe, researching designs and patterns shared among block prints, textiles and art tiles. Returning to Buffalo, where I grew up, was pivotal because of its relevance in the history of the Arts and Crafts Movement. In this region, where many historic designers' work could be seen and studied, my skills flourished.
FOCUS
Using a furniture maker's eye, I sensed a parallel between sculptural forms of Arts and Crafts furniture and modern designs of the mid 20th century. Both periods value deceptively simple form, innovative use of material as a decorative element, and the appeal of enduring design, The modern sensibility of turn of the century furnishings resonates in the objects created by the forward looking artists of the post war age! This idea struck me like a lightening bolt and a passionate exploration of everything Mid Century Modern ensued.
A Paul McCobb Chair, 1954
GROW
Now steeped in a love for historic design encompassing both early and mid 20th century, I’m excited by the idea of how these two periods of innovation enhance each other. After 30 years, I drew Head, Heart and Hand to a close and launched Peerless Handcraft. This new studio puts forward my experience and provides an interactive forum for design and collaboration. My work flows easily through rich terrain, the historic details provide a context for handcrafting objects which are fresh but fit well within the framework of the good designers that inspire me.