Annapolis furniture maker melds form and functionality

Maybe it was a good thing that Joseph Murphy didn't have enough money to buy a good bed when he got his first apartment after college.

Faced with financial constraints and an uncomfortable futon, he decided to make his own bed, so to speak, and the experience of working with wood ignited a passion that still drives him today.

Mr. Murphy, 38, is a furniture maker whose designs are a hybrid of art and functionality. Largely self-taught, the Annapolis resident produces unique handmade stools, benches, desks, cabinets and tables in his basement workshop. He's only been making furniture full time for a short time, but is already winning prestigious awards.

Last weekend, he took home a $1,000 prize for excellence in wood from his first show, the annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. He was entered as an "emerging artist."

"It's a wonderful compliment that he did win as an emerging artist," said show manager Nancy O'Meara. "(His work) is beautiful. It's very clean and well-done, and obviously other people thought so, too. It's very exciting."

Mr. Murphy still has the bed he made for his apartment, as well as a CD rack from that period. But he's the first to admit these pieces are more utilitarian and a lot cruder than the furniture he creates today.

His most recent piece, for example, is an entry table he calls "Two Steps Forward," because its subtly curved legs make it appear that it's going to walk away from the wall. Furthermore, its three drawers are different sizes, smallest to largest, on purpose. He used algebraic equations to work out the specific proportions and play with scale. He also considered how different grains in the different pieces of wood would flow together.

"I used to dream of woodworking all day and night," Mr. Murphy said. "I'd get home from work and dive in, but I was exhausted. I decided I wanted the woodwork to make me exhausted."

He's fine with people using the furniture he makes; in fact, he wants them to. But he also hopes his customers realize its artistic properties. "I want it to be functional," he said. "But I think art is something that grabs and holds someone's attention."

By that definition, the chest he made for Phillip Robinson of Silver Spring certainly qualifies as art. Mr. Robinson's two young children keep their toys in it, but it also serves as the focal point of the family's recreation room. "It's an awesome piece," Mr. Robinson said. "It always gets a lot of compliments."

Plus, it stands up to rough treatment from his children and still looks like "nothing happened to it."

"It's the kind of piece my kids can hand off to their kids," Mr. Robinson said.

Wood that he could

Up until three years ago, Mr. Murphy was toiling away as a mechanical engineer at a company that makes humidifiers and thermostats. He was bored, though, and only pursued woodworking as a hobby,

When his father died, Mr. Murphy moved to Annapolis from Madison, Wis., to be with his mother. The upheaval also caused him to reconsider his life, and he decided to follow his "bliss" and start the furniture company. "I sort of feel that if I didn't do it, there'd be something missing in my life," he said.

Still, Mr. Murphy admits he was nervous when he started out. He got enough work from friends and family to keep things going, though, as his reputation spread by word-of-mouth. His pieces are priced from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand, depending on their size and complexity. "I try to make things you'd want to hang out with for a long time," he said, smiling, "like good friends."

Mr. Murphy learned woodworking mainly by reading books and practicing. He admires the simple lines in Shaker and Japanese furniture, although he strives to have his own distinct style. He first sketches ideas and proportions in pencil, then finalizes them on a computer. It's only at that point that he turns his attention to the wood. He prefers domestic species like walnut, cherry, maple and Douglas fir.

His workshop is small, with just a few electric tools like a band saw and a planer because he prefers to work by hand. "You have to do the grunt work with the machines," he said. "But I like to use my hand tools to give it the tactile feel, the soft touches and gentle curves."

He uses an adjacent room to take photographs of his work and to store his books on woodworking and the music he listens to while making furniture. "His work is superb," said his uncle, Mike Hughes of Annapolis, for whom he made three custom kitchen benches. "They're perfect."

Lisa Nagel had similar praise for a pergola Mr. Murphy built for a playground at St. Anne's School of Annapolis. He even equipped the pergola with a wooden-framed slate, a handmade abacus and a xylophone for the children to play with.

"It's very beautiful," said Ms. Nagel, associate head for curriculum and professional development at the school. "We love it. He thought about how the children would move through the space."

Mr. Murphy has other ties to St. Anne's beyond the pergola. His wife of 10 years, Sigrid, teaches there, and their son, Seamus, 6, is a student.

For now, Mr. Murphy is a one-man operation, though he'd eventually like to have a couple employees. But he never wants to grow so big that he'll merely be a supervisor.

"I don't want to ever get away from doing the work," he said. "It's definitely (a feeling) of contentment. There's a sense of flow to it; a sense of being right with the world. I just feel it's what I was meant to do."

For more information about Mr. Murphy's work, call 443-482-9240 or visit the Web site at www.josephmurphy.net.