The angle of the leg might look a little familiar—is it a Japanese influence? And the tabletop has a hint of Arts and Crafts. But the overall effect is contemporary: you could almost a see a dash of post-Modern Italian in there. Black Mountain woodworker David Scott is a stylistic polyglot, fluent in all the languages of design, and skilled at translating them into a vocabulary that’s uniquely his own.
Central to his visual repertoire is the beauty of the wood, which comes from an equally impressive range of sources. But, Scott says function is the bottom line in his furniture design. And with unexpected combinations of styles and types of wood, function is achieved with flair.
Take Scott’s rocker design. “People have been making rockers for thousands of years,” he says. “I didn’t invent them.” What he did do is update it in several important ways. First, he made his rockers comfortable. “Back support is key,” he says, and so is comfort in the seat — his are made with a padded leather cushion. But it’s the look that stands out. Scott’s rockers aren’t down-home — they’re sophisticated. He typically uses a combination of woods for contrast, and not just any wood. His rocker designs have included the exotic hardwood African bubinga wood paired with birdseye maple, pommele sapele (another African wood) combined with ash, and a rosewood and bird’s eye maple match. This isn’t your granny’s rocker: it’s an heirloom piece that just improves with age. From a place to soothe a baby to a spot for a well-deserved rest, a rocker is more than just a place to sit —“It’s a furniture security blanket,” says Scott.
A native of Rock Hill, South Carolina, he started woodworking while studying psychology and counseling. Once he’d tried it, it was clear that he’d found his calling, and he enrolled in Haywood Community College’s Professional Program in Craft, and joined the Southern Highlands Craft Guild in 1981. In the nearly 20 years since, he’s only missed one show — last summer, when he was moving his studio from Candler to Black Mountain, where he recently built a home. He’s also been a member of the Ariel Gallery Craft Cooperative in Asheville since 2004, which is where most people have their first encounter with his work.
While the rockers are Scott’s signature pieces, he’s also known for his bookcases and tables, which, like all of his work, defy classification. “I’m a student of design,” says Scott. “I have a lot of influences.”
He loves Danish modern and even admires the lines of IKEA furniture, if not the materials used to produce it. For Scott, a beautiful piece of wood is key, and while he says, “we live in a great area for hardwoods,” such as cherry, maple, and white oak, he’s not a purist about the Southern Appalachian tradition. Many of his pieces incorporate African hardwoods that a local supplier gets straight from South Africa. They’ll call him if they get in a beautiful piece of wenge (a dark tropical hardwood with) or bubinga, which has a grain pattern that resembles birdseye maple. Some pieces are so special he says they’re “once in a lifetime” finds, and Scott relishes the opportunity to find the perfect use for them. “Ninety percent of what I do is about the grain and the natural colors,” he says, which is why he rarely uses stain or color, except in his milk paint stools.
For Scott, creating a design that highlights the natural beauty of the wood is largely an intuitive process. While he does sketch his designs, he’s open to refining and tweaking along the way. Each piece of Scott’s furniture is truly is one of a kind, and he frequently works with clients to create custom pieces. He’ll even visit a customer’s home to take a look at their space. “I really enjoy collaborating with people on what might work,” he says.
The underpinning of every design though is function. “I’m all about function, and that’s probably why furniture design appeals to me so much,” he says. From the rockers to tables, desks, stools, and even music stands, Scott interprets the function of each piece with a sense of visual harmony. And while he’s not trying to make a statement with his furniture, “they’ve all got my stamp on them,” he says.