Russ Riddle Designs
Studio furniture
About
Copyright  2007  Russ Riddle Designs  All rights reserved.

    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, marketing/survey research) 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.

    In 2000 Russ rekindled 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 Gallery on Camano Island,WA 2005-2008
      The Wood Merchant, La Conner, WA 2006-2008
      ArtWood Gallery ,Bellingham, WA 2006
      Bellevue Arts Museum ArtsFair, Bellevue, WA 2007
      Northwest Fine Woodworking , Seattle, 2008
      Camano Arts Association Fall Show, Camano Island, WA 2007
      Stanwood Camano Arts Guild Spring Show, Stanwood, WA 2007
      Bellevue Arts Museum ArtsFair,, Bellevue, WA 2008
      Art at the Plant Farm, Arlington, WA 2008
      art matters @ Four Springs, Camano Island, 2008
      Brushes with the Land, Gallery by the Bay, Stanwood, WA 2008
      Trees Are Us, Solovei Art Gallery, Everett, WA 2008
      Parklane Gallery, Kirkland, WA 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.