Transforming wood in to works of art

Steve Johnsen

Born: Elmwood Park

Resides: St. Charles since 1978

Family: Wife Allison; three stepchildren: Brendan (20), Ariel (16) and Skyler (15)

Occupation: Artwork furniture

Little-known fact: "I'm a musician. Piano is really my first love. I still write music, and I'd like to write a musical, some day."

Beautiful grains, curves and lines, and intricate hand-carved details are coaxed from wood by Steve Johnsen's talented hands, transforming a simple natural resource into amazing pieces of usable furniture.

"I love all different kinds of wood," Johnsen said recently, while showing me a curly maple writing desk and a mahogany carved rose. Within the fine details of his utilitarian works of art, it shows.

Q: How long have you been a woodworker, and how did you get started doing this

A: I've been doing this for 23 years. I've been in St. Charles the whole time. In 1978, I built our house in Cumberland Green.

It was basically built around the grand piano. I was a music major. I wanted a grand piano that was mine, and a house where I could play it anytime I wanted. I had to build a house; I couldn't afford to buy one right out of school.

That's how I got into woodworking. I took classes and worked for this guy and that guy, worked nights in a factory, did carpentry work, built a house, and that morphed into building artwork.

I would build a house completely differently, now. I'd probably never get done.

Q: How did you learn all the nuts and bolts of woodworking

A: I'm self-taught. I read woodworker magazines and I read books. You read six books and you have the knowledge of six authors behind you. And I would experiment -- you learn different techniques that way. You learn different techniques and it becomes second nature.

Q: What kinds of pieces do you make

A: Furniture, bookcases, built-ins, office furniture, tables of all kinds, jewelry boxes, bowls ... I do almost everything. I build stuff to be used, from little bowls to things that take up a whole basement.

Q: What do you enjoy about woodworking

A: I've always liked working with my hands. I've always enjoyed standing back at the end of the day and seeing what's been done. If it's beautiful, it's gratifying.

It's just another facet of the same thing as doing music, writing, poetry, painting. It's all a part of me. I appreciate the wood, and I appreciate the time God put into making this stuff.

Q: What special skills does a woodworker need

A: You have to know your numbers. Patience. Planning is important. Using your hands and eyes together. Using your eyes is probably the most important.

Q: Where does your wood come from

A: Most woods I use are domestic. It's not an ethical thing, but domestic woods are a third of the price and just as strong, and just as beautiful.

Most of my wood comes from Sycamore -- the Hardwood Connection. There are great guys there, who are really helpful. I collect boards and wait for the perfect wood.

Q: Where might local folks see some of your work

A: I built the altar, baptismal font, cross, chalice, offering plates and things like that for my church, Flowing Grace, in North Aurora. It's a church-in-a-box, so all those pieces can be packed up and put away.

I've had things in local stores, but mostly I make things for peoples' homes.

Q: So you work mostly on commission

A: Yes. One of the things I do is build everything in conjunction with my customers, so everything is unique.

I sit down with customers and find out what they're looking for. I want to see the space it is going into to see if it will fit in with that's there. I look at the rest of the furniture in the room and draw up a plan. Then I have them OK it. I give them a spec sheet with the species of wood, brand of drawer pulls, everything, so there are no surprises. They can be involved as much or as little as they want.

One customer had me make a bookcase for his wife, for a wedding present. She had given him a guitar. I copied the design in the veneer on the guitar onto the bookcase, and added special details like 143, his code for "I love you" (one-letter word, four-letter word, three-letter word).

I think it's important to carve something so it looks like what it's supposed to be (showing a photograph of a desk with two-sided hand-carved realistic images which turned, above the back of the desk). This was from a wife for her husband. Instead of just having something to hold your stuff, it means something besides a desk.

Things can have meaning and make you feel good, without getting in the way of the beauty of the wood.

Q: It sounds like the unveiling and presenting of your work could be a pretty emotional thing for your customers. What kind of responses do you get

A: The two best compliments I ever got were "I can't imagine it not being there," and "I knew what it was going to look like, but this is so much better than I thought."

Q: How do people find out about you

A: Mostly word of mouth. Sometimes from the woodworkers I do work for. Referrals are the best way to go.

People who are interested can e-mail me: scjwoodman@hotmail.com. I can send them a CD of photos of my work.

Q: How long did it take you to build an average size piece

A: The desk was a two-and-a-half month job. This is all you do. You go into your shop and you work until you're all done. I love the challenge.

Q: What's the largest thing you've ever built

A: The house was just the biggest thing I ever built. But I'd say a 12-foot-tall, 24-foot-wide mahogany (shelf) unit, that went along an entire wall and even over and around the doorway.

Q: What else do you make

A: When my friends have children, I make their cribs. I also do reproductions, old-fashioned stuff. I've done Steinway reproductions of piano legs, lyres (to which the foot pedals are attached), and piano benches.

Q: What tools do you use when you work

A: I do a mixture of hand and machine work. I use a router and a lathe. I embellish pieces by hand-carving. Every once in a while I do art for art's sake.

Q: What makes your creations unique

A: I think of a couple of ideas and use them throughout the piece. The repetition makes the whole piece work together.

I love all different types of wood: the shapes and the curves. I don't make the wood; I rearrange it into something else.

My pieces are made for people who know what they like.

Furniture should make you feel good to look at it. When you fill up your home with it, you feel good every time you walk by.

Also, my furniture is guaranteed for my lifetime. I can add that I've never had to go repair anything. Nothing I've made has fallen apart, since 1984.

Your grandchildren will want these pieces because they'll still look good.