|
woodezine - Volume
III - Issue IV - April 2005
|
Furniture Builder of
the Month
Sponsored by Chipsfly.com
Del Cover
| Over the last 36 years (half of them as a professional), Del Cover has produced thousands of pieces of furniture, artwork and other furnishings both here in the States and internationally. Many of his pieces have won awards for design and construction. |
 |
| He has competed in the Del Mar Design in Wood since the first show in 1982 and has won awards in the classes of 'contemporary', 'traditional', 'art furniture', 'models' and 'made for children'. His art furniture piece from the 1993 show, the hammock stand shown below (which was designed as Viking ship frame with a dragons head), appeared on the cover of Fine Woodworking magazine. |
 |
Del loves to use strong figured woods or bright colors. Although he occasionally works with designers or architects, he does most of his own designing - usually working from a simple sketch, but occasionally he will make full drawings when necessary. |
| When they come to him, many of his clients
have not yet decided exactly what they want, other than the basic function
of the piece. Usually, he will go to the client's home and try to evaluate
their likes and dislikes. A photo in a magazine or book can sometimes
be a good starting point.
"My skill," he says, "is in making furniture that looks like it belongs in your home." |
 |
 |
Del likes to say that he has been practicing
woodworking professionally for years. "I use the word practicing," he says, "because woodworking is like medicine, in that one does not suddenly become a woodworker. Rather, one improves at their trade over time. As in medicine, a person develops specialties, rather than trying to do everything. My specialties are chair building and matching existing styles." |
| He began his working life as a chemist and worked in oceanography for seventeen years. His first experience with woodworking was in his uncle's casket factory, and from there he moved to boat building and marine interiors. |
 |
 |
Del's early work included many ship models and five wooden sailboats. He has created tow tank models for the America's Cup Racing Campaign. After years of exploring and writing about Baja California, Del produced many inlaid wood pieces exploring design motifs of aboriginal rock art. He has remodeled the interiors of several Craftsman homes, including the original Director's House at Scripp's Institution of Oceanography. |
|
Although many of his earlier designs are very organic, much of his latest art furniture uses architecture elements as a primary element - as seen in last yea's San Diego Fine Workers 1st place 'New York City Park bench' (above), and this year's Italian Hill town chairs and The Apprentice (shown at right, which was based on the Trump Tower in New York and plays with the themes of the TV show). Del worked for seven years with Niki de St. Phalle, building furniture and artworks. During this time, his collaboration pieces built for Niki included the Chariot in the Tarot Garden in Italy, and the Niki Snake Chairs for the Jean Tinguely Museum restaurant in Basil, Switzerland. Several of the Niki de St. Phalle pieces are part of the permanent collection of the Mingei Museum, along with a rocking chair of Del's own design. |
 |
 |
His current projects include Craftsman kitchen designs, art furniture, a fantasy bedroom set, building pieces for other international artists and many entertainment centers. |
| Del has judged at the Design in Wood Show and the Annual Palomar College student show. He has taught chairbuilding and boatbuilding classes, and has been active in the San Diego Fine Woodworking Show for 20 years, where he organizes their educational programs for meetings. |
 |
| "If I were to pick an order of priority for my work," Del says, "perhaps it would be rockers, then the NY city park bench, dragon hammock, the apprentice, cradel, wine cellar, and quaker-shaker chairs." |
|
All text and images on this page are copyrighted and used with the artist's permission. |
