The Kubota

Type: Custom Hardwood Credenza
Materials: Ipe and Zebrawood
Dimensions:
Inspiration: Katsufumi Kubota and My Great Grandfather

My great grandfather was Frank Lloyd Wright’s chief draftsmen; John Van Bergen. My father followed the tradition and continues to be one of my biggest influences. From of very early age, my father would invite my into his shop and help me identify true craftsmanship. In turn, I am absolutely intrigued and inspired by architecture. I collect books on architecture, modern art, furniture designers etc. Thumbing through them is a good way to get my mind into “design mode”. I had picked up a book on Japanese homes. The specific house that caught my eye was the work of a Japanese architect, Katsufumi Kubota. Ninety percent of the design of this piece came to me within the first 15 min of seeing with home. I really dug the extended eaves of the roof line, and the dramatic, and maybe oversized base, or in this case foundation of the house. I used zebrawood, the most dramatic of the woods for the simplest part of the credenza, the doors. The selection of wood and the placement of material is the hardest and most essential part of my designs. The piece has a lot of lines, angles and points, by using a subtle wood it makes it a little less chaotic. The ipe, in this case, does exactly that. The magazine rack on the bottom was an afterthought; I needed to do something with all the extra space down there. This piece has found a home in one of San Luis Obispo’s historical buildings erected in 1828.

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