The smell and sound of a good wood shop is about as comforting to a furniture devotee as freshly mowed Wrigley Field grass and organ music is to a Cubs fan. The rich aroma of cut hardwoods permeate the air, sun beams illuminate a suspended universe of slowly moving particle dust, while a bevel edge chisel and table saw provide the verdant soundtrack. Just like Wrigley, it is a living, breathing time capsule – and this is exactly the scene Matter Observed walked into when we visited Chicago-based furniture maker, Jason Lewis, at his West Town laboratory of lumber. We caught up with Jason to get his thoughts on design, learn a little bit about his working process, and discover what’s on the horizon for this talented, up-and-coming furniture designer.

Matter Observed: Jason, first tell us a little about your background and how you got into furniture design.

Jason: I sort of got into building furniture before I got into designing furniture. In 2000 I found out about this local place that was basically a functioning custom furniture shop combined with a woodworking school. The guy took on apprentices to work for free and just learn by immersion in this environment. I had been looking for something like that to do, and ultimately I went and worked there for about a year. That was my first exposure to traditional joinery and this kind of furniture construction. I had always sort of built things, but never on this level.

After that I put together my own shop and started doing whatever commissions I could get. So this was when I really started working on design – both the one-off custom type work but also my own designs. Basically between paying jobs I would just work on my own pieces and try to build as much as I could, experimenting with different things.

Matter Observed: Aesthetic remnants of Shaker furniture and mid-century Danish design can be seen in much of your work. Do you look at what you are doing with your furniture as an extension of these styles and their fundamental principals?

Jason: Definitely the Shakers and a lot of the mid-century stuff are both big influences. I think the basic purity and functionality of the designs, the proportions, the way the details of a piece elevate a simple shape. All of that I try to incorporate in my own work.

Being a woodworker, I respond to that tradition of craftsmanship and the link between design and construction. The Shakers had this pure sense of design but were also totally inventive, ingenious builders. And all those great Danish designers either built their own furniture or had close collaborations with master woodworkers or cabinetmakers (and later manufacturers), usually the same one for years and years.

Matter Observed: Is there anything else that informs your designs in the creative process? Take us through how a design goes from an idea in your head to the finished product.

Jason: It depends. Sometimes I get an idea for just one element of something – a certain way to make the arm of a chair or something, and that’s what I build the rest of the piece around. Other times I start with an idea for more of a whole piece – maybe a basic outline of a table or chair, a certain profile. I typically work the idea around in my head for a while and then try to do a drawing, or sometimes I just start making it and kind of adjust dimensions or angles as I go along.

Matter Observed: Last year a client of Matter & Order wanted a writing desk with storage that could also double as a small dining table, and after some collaboration you designed and built a simple but gorgeous black walnut table (above) with sculpted joints where the legs meet the surface. What other types of wood do you work with, and do you like to mix different woods into a single design?

Jason: With custom work I use a wider range of materials, but most often it’s domestic hardwoods – walnut, oak, ash, cherry. On my own designs I tend to use walnut the most as kind of a default, I love the look and it also happens to be a really nice material to work with. I do sometimes mix woods, but I try to be pretty subtle about it. I think a little contrast goes a long way.

Matter Observed: Where do you source your lumber and do you ever work with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified or sustainably harvested woods?

Jason: I source wood from a few different places around the area – some smaller sawmills that take local trees and mill them, and also some larger lumber dealers. I do work with sustainably harvested stuff wherever possible, and can always use it if requested. I have also done a number of projects with reclaimed lumber – wood that is salvaged from old barns or industrial buildings and can be cut down and reused.

Matter Observed: CB2 recently took one of your chair designs (above) and manufactured it in a brushed nickel-plated steel, calling it the Fleet Chair (below, $179 available at CB2 ). What was the process like working with the Chicago-based company in getting your design from wood into metal form? Is there a story behind the naming of the chair?

Jason: We started looking at some of my existing designs and trying to see if there was something that could be reworked so that it could be manufactured in metal at a manageable price. They can produce that chair in metal a lot cheaper than wood, and the design lends itself to metal because you keep that visual lightness – the thin frame, the thin bent back – in a way you couldn’t in wood at that level of production. As far as coming up with a name, I happily deferred that to the creative folks at CB2.

Matter Observed: Well we love the name, and the chair sings modern elegance. It’s definitely one of our favorite new chair designs under $250, as recently reviewed in dwell.

Matter Observed: Describe your ideal client or ideal project.

Jason: Any client that is excited about the product and the process is ideal for me. I’m also on the lookout for eccentric billionaires who need furniture.

Matter Observed: That’s funny, because eccentric billionaires are on Matter & Order‘s radar for potential clients, too.

Matter Observed: So what’s your favorite chair or piece of furniture that you’ve designed? How about a favorite chair or piece of furniture that you did not design?

Jason: I don’t think I really have a favorite of my own, the upholstered rocking chair (above) has been my best selling piece and so I’ve had the most chances to make & refine it over the years. It’s also something I use every day at home, so it has a more personal connection.

As far as something by another designer, again it’s hard to pick a favorite. I think the first piece of furniture that really made me think about or be aware of design was an Eames bent plywood chair (an LCM) that was in my grandmother’s house when I was growing up. That is still definitely one that I look to as an inspiration.

Matter Observed: What are you working on these days that you are particularly excited about?

Jason: I’m working on some new stuff with CB2 that should be out later this year, including (hopefully) a piece that I’ll be producing here in the shop as well as designing. Also getting ready to start on some furniture pieces and a reception desk for an apartment building lobby – this really beautiful old hotel in Hyde Park that is being completely renovated with modern interiors.

Matter Observed: Lastly, Matter Observed would like to know the answers to the following:

Last author read: Alan Brinkley
Last song heard: ‘Connecticut’ by Superchunk
Last food consumed: A banana
Last drink imbibed: A cup of coffee

Matter Observed: Jason, thank you for time.

Jason: Thank you, Nate.

Jason Lewis’ work is both familiar and striking: familiar in form, striking in its incredible craftsmanship and attention to detail – as if Fritz Hansen had a lovechild with Mother Ann Lee. Using joinery techniques developed centuries ago, his designs are modern yet timeless wooden sculptures that double as heirloom-quality furniture. For contact info and to see more of Jason’s work, visit his website at jasonlewisfurniture.com.