LUMBERmart announces first designer collaboration with renowned furniture designer and master woodworker Thomas Hucker.
“To me, art should be all the things around us. It’s not just an icon.” Thomas Hucker, a Philadelphian wood artisan prefers art that is not just something to behold but rather, used. As claimed by him, the “respect for use” resonates with every art piece that he has made; a combination of aesthetics and utilitarian value that will not just make a piece astonishing, but also pragmatic, important and needed – and would ultimately hold the key to being timeless and relevant.
A brief background about Hucker; he was born in 1955 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia in the United States. He began his illustrious career by undergoing a rigorous two-year apprenticeship with fifth generation German master cabinetmaker Leonard Hilgner. Prior to meeting his first wood master in 1972, there was a travelling exhibition in Philadelphia organised by the American Crafts Council entitled “Objects USA”. Responsible for shaping Hucker’s frame for his future direction, it showcased the work of serious practising furniture makers, including Sam Maloof, George Nakashima, Jere Osgood and Wharton Esherick.
He approached almost every artist whose works appeared in Objects USA, looking for training or apprenticeship. But sadly, none agreed.
They say the early bird gets the worm … but the second mouse gets the cheese! The rejections led Hucker to meet a teacher who was teaching at a university near his vicinity, who was also a wood worker. He befriended him and later found himself in a car, travelling with the teacher to meet Hilgner. It was because of a complicated ”joinery” – Hucker asked the teacher “Why are we seeing this German guy?”. The teacher responded, “I can’t cut this joint. But Leonard can cut this joint.”
Hucker later discovered that Hilgner, albeit not that well-known, was regarded by everyone in the woodwork community as the “last resort”, which made Hucker decide to want to work under Hilgner.
“He was really quite amazing in his own way – really kind and quiet. And he was born into this wood craft industry literally. It was in Germany, before the war, and his pregnant mother came into the woodshop bringing Hilgner’s family their lunch; everyone
was in the woodshop. And she gave birth to him in the sawdust!”
Following Hilgner, Hucker attended four summer sessions at Penland School of Crafts, learning from expert woodworkers Sam Maloof and Tage Frid, before continuing his training under master craftsman Jere Osgood at Boston University’s Program in Artisanry in 1976. There, he took interest in Japanese aesthetics and attended classes at the Urasenke School of Japanese Tea Ceremony. In 1989, Hucker received a Fulbright-Hays scholarship to study under renowned design master Stefano Giovannoni at the Domus Academy in Milan, Italy.
The story of how Hucker met Charles Lee, Founder and Managing Director of LUMBERmart, dates back to 1990 in New York, when Hucker was teaching bi-weekly wood working classes.
“There was this guy in my class, all friendly and he went up to me and said ‘Hey, I’m from Malaysia’. I had no idea where Malaysia was, and once I found out about its location, I thought you could not have come further for a class!”
The class lasted about two weeks, when Lee invited Hucker to visit Malaysia. Hucker nonchalantly answered “sure” thinking that it was just a part of making conversation nothing serious. To Hucker’s surprise, Lee really did follow up with his invitation a couple of months after their meeting. “He called me and said ‘So, when are you coming?’ From that, it took me about a year to prepare and organise everything for my trip to Malaysia. I got my roundtrip ticket and two weeks later, I was in Malaysia.”
Lee played a major role in attracting Hucker to come to Malaysia to pursue his passion in woodwork. Lee was overwhelmingly enthusiastic, and this eventually rubbed off on Hucker. He shared his vision with Hucker about how the Malaysian market was absent of meticulous, couture and high-quality furniture that is also custom-made.
“There is no signature, specific design of furniture made specially for you herein Malaysia, you can only purchase massproduced
high-quality goods. But tailored made furniture? No. That’s what I saw along with Hucker; I knew that his skilled craftsmanship and masterful understanding of materials would be the start of something truly magical,” said Lee.
According to Lee, Backley by LUMBERmart had already been created three years prior meeting Hucker. Apart from running a
company, Lee is also a trained and skilled wood artisan. He has enrolled in countless wood working classes all over the world – including in New York where he met Hucker. For about 20 years, LUMBERmart did predominantly wood flooring and ceiling jobs. After many years, Lee innovated and introduced high-end furniture as well. Meeting Hucker was like fate; and since then, Backley x Thomas Hucker has evolved one step further.
As Hucker only creates eight wood masterpieces a year – including the Credenza console table, Akiko side chairs and Drummond side table – the bespoke furniture created exclusively for LUMBERmart is the very definition of collector’s items that aficionados of fine furniture will most certainly want to add to their collections.
