KüLKRAFT (Custom Crafted Furnishing, Cabinetry & Architectural Joinery)

General information

William T. J. Ellis
Studio Workshop | Designer / Machinist / Maker

KuLKRAFT existed since February 2011 (initially concerned with producing custom laminates and screen printed furniture, something to be pursued in the future) becoming a reality during the following autumn/winter with the first prototype seat, B2 Love Seat, a variation on the kissing seat idea.

The B2 was built in solid ash and featured a splay tapered parallelogram base – incorporating themes of parallelism, symmetry, scale and proportion; threads which follow through to subsequent and current works which tend to feature a textile-like handling to arrangements of lines, texture and colour: blending and division, union and bisection, symmetry and discord, heterogeneity and homogeneity; visually and structurally.

Creating starkly elegant utilitarian ‘everyday’ objects with a playful appeal underlies the approach to design.
I enjoy working with an array of materials although, my passion is for working solid wood ; it’s beauty, innumerable variation and awesome physical properties – especially ‘utility’ varieties, traditional and exotic, like ash or greenheart for example, boasting some exceptional characteristics, something, for me, that is tangibly fascinating and exciting to work with.

For my own furniture designs, the design process tends to happen at the bench, working directly with the raw material straight from idea to create prototypes, employing efficient ‘no frills,’ joinery to realise ideas on the fly whilst also being intrinsic to the visual aesthetic and feel of the work. This ‘from the hip’ style of working greatly helps to fully understand the demands and implications of each design choice on the stages of manufacture, invaluable to the refinement of each subsequent finished article.

Oftentimes, the material attributes much to the design of a one-off, sample or test piece – for instance, the immediate availability of a particular type of timber, or the desire to use something which has been put to one side and saved, can dictate the scale or complexity of say a chair or table, forcing creativity within the confines of limiting factors.

In other instances, the inception of work is more premeditated, following on from or revisiting the kernel of a tested concept although, the process of making still tends to be fluid, following its own natural course to a degree, as making provides its own inspiration and so concepts evolves therefore making each design piece, or any variant there of, discretely individual.

We take pride in our unique approach to furniture design and aesthetics; our custom hand-made furniture is typified by sleek, plainly stylish construction paired with striking geometry and sensual contrasting of texture, colour and grain. Our core creative principle of graceful starkness underpins our approach to design which we like to refer to as ‘brutally elegant.’

Hand-crafted means no automation. No CAD/CAM or CNC – using a modest array of machinery, tools and various skills to celebrate the innate properties of natural timber through use of proven construction methods and more recent production style techniques.

There is a very real relationship with every part of every project as absolutely everything is hand worked, imparting tangible character in to every piece.

Brutally elegant | Plane and simple...

...it’s a passion.