Tim Celeski’s Craftsman furniture, part of Pasadena Heritage celebration this weekend
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I met furniture designer Tim Celeski six years ago at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show in Seattle. He had persuaded an artist friend to display an Adirondack chair, one of Celeski’s first designs, in a booth otherwise devoted to botanical prints.
Having just completed a Craftsman-inspired bungalow in a historic Seattle neighborhood, I made a beeline for that hand-crafted chair, complete with butterfly joinery, cloud lifts and contrasting wooden pegs to hide the screws. I saved my pennies and ordered two of Celeski’s Greene and Greene-inspired Medina chairs for my garden, including one scaled extra-long for my 6-foot, 2-inch-tall spouse.
In the ensuing years, Celeski has become something of a darling among Arts & Crafts collectors. The owners of the Blacker House and the Robinson House, two Greene and Greene residences in Pasadena, have commissioned more than 100 of his pieces.
“My customer base includes lovers of Arts & Crafts homes, but also garden enthusiasts who want something that’s both classic and contemporary,” Celeski says. Several of his pieces will be on display this weekend at Pasadena Heritage’s annual celebration of all things Craftsman. For more on Celeski’s work, click to the jump.
“There was virtually no outdoor furniture during the Arts & Crafts period,” Celeski said in a recent phone call from his studio in Indianola, Wash. His Celeski Studios collection imagines what might have appeared on the terrace, porch or patio of an early California bungalow or cottage.
Crafted from mahogany and jarra (a dark-colored, durable outdoor wood from Australia), the collection has expanded to six indoor and outdoor styles inspired by Stickley and Limbert furniture and the architecture of Charles and Henry Greene.
Keep an eye out for several of Celeski’s pieces in “Extraordinary Measures,” starring Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser and Keri Russell, scheduled for a March release. To see the artist and his work in person, head to Pasadena Heritage’s Craftsman Weekend, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday. You can meet Celeski at the furniture and decorative arts show and sale, Masonic Marketplace, 200 S. Euclid Ave. in Pasadena, and take advantage of his show promotion: A free side table valued at $250 to $300 with the purchase of two Adirondack chairs ($650 to $950 each, depending on the style).
Admission to the Masonic Marketplace is included with all Craftsman Weekend tickets. Prices vary by event. Entrance to the marketplace alone is $10.
Photos, from top: The Medina, Wallingford and Leschi chairs ($650 to $950 each); the curved Medina benches (starting at $600); the 8-foot Blacker formal bench ($4,000).