Material Knowledge Designs

everyday objects, made and repaired

Seat Weaving

I am available for chair caning and woven seat repair and replacement, including rush, fibre rush, hand-laced cane, sheet cane, Danish cord, Shaker tape and more. I can also touch up or repair the chair frame itself, depending on the project. I specialize in hand cane, and am happy to work on complex and difficult weaves like blind- or French-caning.If you're in Orange County or Southern California more generally, contact me to discuss your project and get a quote.

About

photo of the artist weaving a mid-century Danish chair

I am a fiber artist and woodworker working in Orange County, California and interested in the relationship between knowledge and the material world. I'm captivated by what we might call the material life of knowledge: 1) the knowledge embedded in and conveyed by the material world, and 2) the material world that enables and mediates human knowledge and power. After I earned my PhD in philosophy in 2018, I felt a strong need to work with my hands, so I switched gears to approach these questions through more material means: artistic practice and the embrace of craft and craftsmanship.The themes currently animating my work are the relationship between nostalgia and alienation, and how we treat the end of a life (for material goods as well as people). I find working intimately with the material world (which craftsmanship requires) to be an antidote to the alienation I feel from an individualistic, atavistic modern world. Making beautiful, useful objects and designing them so they can safely return to the earth at the end of their life is another way to connect to the larger web of relations of which we're all a part.-Melanie Gayle BowmanInterested? Get in touch!

Contact

If you're in need of caning, seat weaving, basketry and fiber expertise, or new commissions, please reach out! I am located in Orange County and able to serve Southern California and beyond...