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A Matter of Perspective: Cities and Neighborhoods in Custom Artwork

Posted by Pedro in Custom Inspiration, For Customers on May 26, 2011

In a manner of speaking, a skyline is the face of a city, and commissioned sculptures and paintings of cityscapes as familiar silhouettes of buildings and landmarks are like formal portraits.  Faces reveal a great deal, but cities, like people, have features and qualities that might escape the perspective of a formal portrait, characteristics that [...]

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Bring New Life to Reclaimed Wood with Custom Frames

Posted by Pedro in Custom Inspiration, For Customers on May 24, 2011

The works of art and personal photographs you’ve decided to protect and display prominently in your home must have some special significance for you.  Why not house your prized items in custom frames made from materials with special significance as well? Reclaimed wood is a widely available and environmentally friendly resource that also possesses unique [...]

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A Wabi-sabi Approach to Using Reclaimed and Recycled Materials in Your Custom Projects

Posted by Pedro in Custom Inspiration, For Customers on April 24, 2011

Finding beauty and inspiration in the imperfect and fleeting is one of the principles of the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi.  It’s an aesthetic approach that’s well-suited for developing a custom piece made from reclaimed resources.  CustomMade artisans can work with an amazing variety of recycled materials.  Some of these elements have been broken through their [...]

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A Custom Furnituremaker Transforms an Art Gallery

Posted by CustomMade in For Customers, The Wide World of Custom Making on April 20, 2011

A Gallery Installation in Progress

The World as Text will be an exhibition of artists’ books at the Columbia College Center for Book and Paper Arts in Chicago – here are the beginnings of the installation in progress under the direction of CustomMade’s John Preus.

“The World as Text”

The project is [...]

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A Custom Steel Castle by Nop’s Metalworks

Posted by Pedro in Custom Inspiration, For Customers on March 30, 2011

A custom steel castle in your backyard is likely to attract some attention. CustomMade artisan Louis Nop’s of Nop’s Metalworks unique custom metal creation was featured in an article in the Addison County Independent.  Read about how a vacation to Ireland, master craftsmanship, and a desire to share that craftsmanship with the next [...]

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Plant Life Motifs and Custom Jewelry Design

Posted by Pedro in Custom Inspiration, For Customers on March 10, 2011

Creating pieces that convey a sense of vitality and movement is a mark of mastery, no matter what media the artisans use or what they create.  Works that seem to have a life of their own command attention and extend their special aura to everything around them.  Representations of plant life can capture that vital [...]

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Pinball Wizard: Eclectic Upcycling by Maxwell Furniture

Posted by Pedro in Custom Inspiration, For Customers on March 2, 2011

Custom eclectic: If you’re the type of person who goes for the everything bagel or always orders a funky assortment of toppings on your pizza, chances are you have an eclectic spirit.

Custom eclectic style can bring disparate elements and styles together and create something unique and harmonious without stifling the character of the individual [...]

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Lost and Found: Stories of Rescued Wood, Stone, and Metal

Posted by Pedro in Custom Inspiration, For Customers on January 31, 2011

What does all custom furniture have in common?  Every custom item has a unique story behind it: the story of the inspiration, commission, and construction of exactly one and only one made-to-order piece.  Custom furniture made from reclaimed wood or other recycled materials also has “pre-histories:” stories of past lives and uses that are sometimes [...]

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Special Effects: Visual Characteristics of Reclaimed Wood

Posted by Pedro in Custom Inspiration, For Customers on January 24, 2011

What do you gain by using reclaimed wood in your custom furniture project?  You’ll be supporting environmentally friendly practices and local artisan businesses.  Your furniture can be made to fit any decorating style you like and it will have a one-of-a-kind backstory.  Salvaged wood also contains aesthetic elements produced through aging or past trauma that [...]

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The Stories Behind Reclaimed Wood Furniture

Posted by Pedro in Custom Inspiration, For Customers on January 19, 2011

CustomMade has strived to spread the word about the environmental benefits of custom furniture made from salvaged wood and to break the stereotype that equates eco-friendly furniture with a particular design style or type of consumer.  Your custom barnwood furniture or pieces made from other recycled materials can be as diverse and stylish as items [...]

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