Every First Thursday, we open our Pearl District doors to the makers who share our passion for design and craft, and this month we're spotlighting a longtime partner: woodturner Dave Gutschmidt.
How it began
Dave's introduction to wood turning started early, in a 7th grade shop class. The first bowl he ever turned, a salad bowl, ended up in his mother's kitchen, where she kept it for the rest of her life. That early seed didn't sprout again until his early thirties, when Dave bought his first lathe and started turning after his young kids had gone to bed. He's been at it ever since.
What keeps him at the lathe, rather than the workbench, is the room it leaves for improvisation. Traditional woodworking is about executing a design with precision, he explains, with the improvisation happening earlier, at the design stage. Turning is looser. Dave isn't building toward a predetermined plan so much as revealing what's already inside a piece of wood, and letting the wood push back on his direction as he goes.
A process that starts with a chainsaw
For Dave, sourcing the wood is as satisfying as shaping it. Most of his material is salvaged from trees that come down from natural causes. Over the years he's built a network of people who know his work and think of him when interesting wood turns up after wind or snow storms. He shows up with a chainsaw and gathers material to give the tree a second life.
From there it's a race against time. Green wood wants to split and crack as it dries, so some blanks get rough-turned or sealed to slow the process down. But most of Dave's work is “green turning” which is shaping freshly cut, still-wet wood into a finished piece in a single session, often down to a wall thickness of a quarter inch or less. As that thin wood dries, it moves and warps in ways that become part of the piece's character rather than a flaw to fight. Finishing is simple by design: a Danish oil, buffed with carnauba wax, that lets the wood itself do the talking.
What he's known for
Look across decades of Dave's work and a few threads run through it: natural, live-edge forms taken from green wood, which preserve colors that fade once wood dries before it's worked; pierced pieces, cut by hand with a pneumatic drill and integral feet worked into many of his forms. He avoids film finishes that put a layer between the viewer and the wood, favoring penetrating oils that keep the material honest.
Dave describes his choice of wood as a search for character including burls with dramatic grain, wood in early stages of decay, the places where a trunk meets a branch. Because so much of his work is live-edge, he's looking for pieces with an interesting outer surface as much as interesting grain inside.
Where the inspiration comes from
Dave's inspiration is the wood itself, and the story it tells. Grain patterns, insect damage, storm scars, the way gravity compresses growth over decades. For Dave, all of it is a record of how a tree lived. He works less toward function than toward line and form, letting each blank suggest its own shape: a bowl, a vase, a hollow form, a disc. Once the form is chosen, he works toward smooth transitions and a tactile quality — pieces that, as he puts it, invite touch.
The hardest part of the work, he says, isn't technical. It's patience, staying present and immersed in the process, since that's exactly where mistakes creep in when attention wanders.
Partnership with The Joinery
Dave has partnered with The Joinery for many years, both as a featured artisan and as a customer. He points to The Joinery's commitment to quality, classic design, and a shared love of materials as the common ground between his work and ours.
Asked about his own favorite among our designs, Dave doesn't hesitate: the Pacific line, and the Pacific Chair in particular, for its roots in the Arts & Crafts tradition he's always admired.
What to expect this First Thursday
Dave is bringing his well-loved natural-edge pieces, along with something newer: a few off-lathe sculptural works he's been developing and is excited to share for the first time.
Stop by the Pearl District showroom this First Thursday to meet Dave and see the new work firsthand. If you can’t make it into Portland but are interested in his pieces, please reach out to us on our Contact page or call us at 503-788-8547.