2013 Studio Tour: Opposites Attract – The Workspaces of Vicco von Voss and Ken Warwick

If you would like to see the grand scale of the custom timber frame workshop where Vicco von Voss creates his signature one of kind pieces of furniture, please visit 145 Island Creek Rd in Centreville on November 2, 10am- 5pm, rain or shine, during the Chestertown RiverArts 14th Annual Studio Tour.

If you would like to see perhaps the smallest, yet coziest, of the studios on the Chestertown RiverArts Studio Tour where architect, Ken Warwick, creates his abstract charcoal drawings, then visit 20 First Avenue in Betterton on October 26-27.

Vicco von Voss is a well known furniture maker, whose designs are inspired by forms found in nature. His work often contains and can be recognized by his signature “von Voss Swoop,” a shape based on a water droplet. His furniture also draws influence from art deco and contemporary European design. Central to his philosophy is listening to the inherent nature of the wood when creating his work.

After developing his business for 15 years in his downtown Chestertown studio, in 2008 Vicco was ready to create his dream workspace. Once his idea was set in motion, he devoted eight months exclusively to completing his vision. In February 2009, the doors of the new workshop opened, and Vicco resumed his commissioned furniture work.

The 2400 square foot workshop has a spacious feeling, with arched ceilings rising 26 feet high. The floor plan is much like a cathedral with the central bay and hoists and two side aisles for upstairs storage of wood. There is also one bay set up as a metal shop so Vicco can fabricate his own hardware.

The building design was organized around an open floor plan that would accommodate a central hoist system that allows Vicco to lift and move timbers, slabs, and furniture around with ease. There are two massive doors that open up so that Vicco can bring in equipment, his trailer or truck. “Essentially, I designed the space so that I can single- handedly manage my projects.”

A traditional post and beam construction, the timber frame is held together by 100 braces, 1000 pegs, and no nails. A truly “Green” space, most of the building material was in some way recycled: all the lumber used in the building was salvaged from local trees that had fallen in storms, and other components, such as the spiral staircase and the funny gremlin shaped wood burning stove which were trades and hand-me-downs. In addition to the small wood -burning stove inside the shop, the workspace is kept warm in the winter by a radiant floor heating system. This system is fueled by a large outdoor wood furnace fed by milling off-cuts. Vicco custom engineered and constructed the exterior walls to be extremely energy efficient.

Ken Warwick’s work is created comfortably within an intimate space. His drawings are about time and timelessness, structure and intuitive response. He takes pleasure in choosing the simplest thing you can do – making small marks and repeating them over and over. He then builds up layers until he creates a rich, complex design, giving up the white of the paper as it becomes darker and darker. More recently, he has turned to color, again using the same approach.

In 1989 Ken came to the Eastern Shore looking for a getaway home, something completely different from his urban Baltimore row house life. An article in the Baltimore Sun led him to Betterton where a water view, which was essential to him, was affordable. He fell in love with the remnants of the old Victorian resorts there, the friendly character of the town and all that Kent County had to offer. His home is a contemporary reworking of a small summer cottage, steps from the mouth of the Sassafras River and the Chesapeake Bay and was featured in Chesapeake Life magazine.

In 1991 Ken bought a piece of property a block away from the beach but the house he designed for it was never built. In 1998 he bought the property adjacent to it which had a small structure on it. He planned to rehabilitate it but found that only the slab was salvageable. Instead he designed his cottage on the original footprint. He moved in finally in 2006. Today there are three structures on the site; a 750 square foot cottage of which the studio takes up 210 square feet, a separate screened in structure which has a water view, and a garage that may one day be converted into a painting studio.

Though it is small, it feels open and airy. As profiled in the Chesapeake Life article, “Ken borrowed a Japanese design characteristic where rooms are open to one another, creating a feeling of continuation, movement, and space.” When you sit in one space, you always see another; you never feel enclosed. At its peak, the ceiling is 18’ high which adds to the open feeling. “Another cultural inspiration came from the minimal, clean design favored in Scandinavia which is where he got the idea to paint the pine floors bright, reflective white.” Ken also made sure that there is natural ventilation throughout the house; it picks up the prevailing winds off the water.

While Betterton is mainly a summer community, Ken uses the cottage year round. “I like it here in the winter”, he says. “It’s very quiet and peaceful. My drawing work tends to be somewhat cerebral, and it’s kind of nice to have that simple, quiet, almost stark quality around….My artwork has changed being here. Before it was rigid, dark, and more theoretical. Now it’s more open and the landscape is creeping into the work.”

Ken’s work is found throughout the house. Unfinished pieces grace the walls of his studio so that the design can be studied and evolve. Visit Ken Warwick’s home/studio to see a wonderful space and learn more about his process,

To learn more about the Studio Tour call 410-778-6300, email [email protected] or go to www.chestertownriverarts.org/ where you can download the brochure which describes the work of all the artists, gives directions to their studios, and includes a user-friendly map.