Joshua Vogel

Wood is perhaps the most ancient mate­r­ial, but inno­va­tion remains possi­ble, as proven by the work of Joshua Vogel. Growing up in New Mexico in the 1970s offered lessons in the natural beauty of native trees; later, while explor­ing Australia, Haiti, and Europe, Vogel studied the vast variety of saplings and ancient trunks, each with their own unique grain and patina. After study­ing anthro­pol­ogy and art history at New Mexico State Univer­sity in Las Cruces, and archi­tec­ture at the Univer­sity of Oregon, Vogel moved to New York City and co-opened BDDW, a furni­ture and design company focus­ing on heir­loom-quality, American-made work.

Soon, though, the woods called again, and he relo­cated to Kingston, New York. His new venture, Black Creek Mercan­tile & Trading Company, reimag­ines a 1917 factory build­ing as a studio for furni­ture and sculp­ture. Hand-crafted from local woods includ­ing black walnut, sycamore, and maple, Vogel’s sculp­tures achieve a kind of Zen balance in their stacked forms, while his vessels often marry painstak­ing contours with natural splits in the grain. His acces­sories, often made over months on a lathe, look effort­less, while his spoons are so elegant he could write a book on them — and, in fact, did, in 2015’s The Art of the Wooden Spoon: How to Make Exquis­ite Keep­sakes for the Kitchen.