Russ Riddle Designs

Russ Riddle Designs
Studio furniture

About

Russ grew up in Southern California where he developed an appreciation for

nature and an interest in woodworking and art. College and subsequent career

pressures (statistics, genetics) left only time for designing and constructing an

occasional piece of furniture, but it did get him out of

the city

and closer to

the

natural world. Russ and his wife now live on beautiful Camano Island in

Puget

Sound, surrounded by ocean and many, many trees.

n 2000 Russ rekindle

his early interest in design

and woodworking. He is

entirely self-taught and feels this has allowed him to

explore his own artistic

vision. He began selling his work in galleries in 2005.

Russ has shown/sold his work in the following venues:

Seagrass G

allery

on Camano Island

The Wood Merchant

in La Conner

Artwood Gallery

in Bellingham

Bellevue Arts Museum

ArtsFair, 2007

Northwest Fine Woodworking

in Seattle

Camano Arts Association

Fall Show, 2007

Stanwood Camano Arts Guild

Spring Show, 2007

Bellevue Arts Museum

ArtsFair, 2008

Russ was featured by the Everett Herald in March 2006 and by the Stanwood

Camano New in August 2008.

Russ describes the process of creating a piece of furniture as melding his

design ideas with the patterns and beauty he discovers in the wood itself and

with the best craftsmanship of which he is capable. His pieces are about the

wood. He doesn't want the design to overpower the wood. "My desire is that

each piece evokes some of the awe I feel for the beauty of nature," he says. He

incorporates marquetry and inlay designs into many of his pieces but tries to

limit their extent so that they work to "coax the eye into discovering the beauty

of the design and of the wood itself." He also feels that fine craftsmanship is

very important -- not just for its own sake but mostly because he feels it is an

integral part of bringing out the beauty of the design and the patterns and

figures of the wood.