Mid-century modern furniture, made new rather than found.

Mid-century modern is the most imitated furniture style of the last seventy years and the most frequently misunderstood. The look is easy to approximate with a tapered leg and a walnut veneer. What is harder, and what actually makes the difference in a room, is the discipline underneath it.

What the style is actually made of

Three things do most of the work. The first is proportion: pieces sit low, run horizontal and keep their mass off the floor, so a room reads as bigger than it is. The second is the leg, which tapers and connects to the case honestly rather than disappearing behind a skirt. The third is restraint about hardware, which is why pulls tend to be carved into the drawer front or integrated into its edge rather than screwed onto it.

What is left, once the ornament has been stripped out, is the wood. In a style with nowhere to hide, board selection stops being a detail and becomes the design. Laying out a top so the figure runs unbroken from one end to the other is a decision that costs a day in the shop and shows for the life of the piece.

Mid-century, craftsman, and the space between

Bryan works in both traditions, which sound opposed and are not. The Arts and Crafts movement argued for visible joinery, honest materials and construction you could read from across the room. Mid-century modern kept the honesty and removed the decoration. A finger-jointed corner left exposed on an otherwise plain cherry case belongs to both arguments at once.

Choosing the wood

Walnut is the shorthand for the period: dark, even, and finished the day it leaves the shop. Cherry is the more interesting choice, because it starts pale and honey-coloured and darkens over years of light into deep amber, so the piece you take delivery of is not the one you keep. White oak reads plainer and more architectural, and holds up to harder use. Whichever you pick changes the price, so it is settled early.

What gets built

Desks, credenzas, media consoles, dining tables, side tables, dressers and seating, made one piece at a time in San Diego for homeowners, businesses and interior designers. Any design in the portfolio can be rebuilt in a different species, at a different size, for a different room.