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Photo by Drew Fleming Julian Hamer has incorporated his sculptural training into furniture-making after a stint as a properties artisan with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Artisan turns wood to gold Former OSF crafter now makes and sells his own designs By PAUL FATTIG ASHLAND -- Julian Hamer has grown weary of watching his handcrafted chairs dashed to pieces by an angry King Lear. After five years as a properties artisan with The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Hamer recently began making custom-made furniture for folks who aren't likely to smash them to bits. "I learned a great deal working for the festival -- it was absolutely wonderful work," he said. BUSINESS CARD Name : Julian Hamer Furniture Product/service : Custom-designed furniture Location : 1085 Benson Way, Unit 2, Ashland Phone : 482-8434 Web site : [email protected] "I don't believe it's possible in any other context to build such a variety of things. "But I've had this yearning to do my own designs based on my sculptural background," he added. "I've wanted to get out on my own a bit." This past weekend, his custom furniture, all made of wood grown in the Rogue Valley, was featured in the annual Siskiyou Woodcraft Guild Show in Ashland. His sculpturally inspired pieces include everything from free-standing cabinets to tables, mirrors and rocking horses. His signature wood is madrone, a difficult wood to work that looks like ivory when polished. "Wood has a warmth and charm like nothing else," he said during a recent tour of his shop. "Look at the grains. They are so full of such interesting activity and so forth. You can do so much with it." Hamer, 50, who lives in Ashland with his wife, Ellen, is a native of Great Britain who hails from a small town just south of London. His father was a school teacher; his "mum" was a nurse. "I went to Austria as a young man and started working on a house there with some really good craftsmen," he said. "I developed an appetite for working with wood." After a few years working in Austria, he returned to England to help build a three-masted schooner. After studying sculpture at Emersom College in England for two years, he also did a stint as a sculpture teacher in New Zealand. But the wood kept calling him back. When Hamer, who became an American citizen last year, came to Southern Oregon 22 years ago, he was amazed by the amount of available wood to make furniture. "There are a lot of individuals around here who have those small, portable sawmills," he said. "That makes it possible to get some very, very nice wood that is grown locally." A man with a sawmill in Selma provided some madrone for Hamer, who once lived in the Illinois Valley. Many have tried with little success to turn madrone into furniture. "It's a very short-fibered wood that is very brittle," he said. "What I have done, like these chair legs for instance, is to use three different pieces of madrone that have been laminated together. "The fibers in each piece run a different direction. It's very strong." Indeed, he figures even an angry King Lear would have trouble breaking the chair. The madrone was kiln-dried by a man living in the city of Rogue River. "He did a very good job," Hamer said. "Madrone is like an exotic wood. It is very beautiful. The grain is just beautiful." The madrone chair is based on a turn-of-the-century Russian design used in the festival, he said. "I've modernized it a bit," he said of the chair. Its stout madrone arms form a swirl. A nearby curio cabinet was made of broadleaf maple grown in the Rogue River area. "Look how the grain runs through it -- It's beautiful wood, just beautiful," he said. A chair with a tall back, fit for a dining room or hallway, is made of black oak from the Rogue Valley. "There is a little bit of red coming through," he said. "But that's part of the charm." Another item he made was a cigar box out of madrone. "I'm probably not going to make these anymore," he said. "There isn't a particularly good market for cigar boxes. It doesn't seem to be fashionable anymore. But I did enjoy making it." Hamer has an assortment of saws, lathes and drills at his disposal in his comfortable shop. "Tools can be savage -- they deserve a lot of respect," said Hamer, who has all his fingers. Since going into his own business, crafting his own designs, he keeps in touch with his fellow woodworkers to talk about the craft. "The people in the woodcraft field are extremely good to talk to," he said. "They have a wealth of ideas. And there are some very talented artisans who work with wood in this area." Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA