david stine

Last month our sister blog Housing Watch wrote about the renovation of the Kennedy Green House. A book documents the eco-friendly renovation and redecoration of Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s home in Mt. Kisco, New York. Kennedy's LEED-Gold-certified renovation of his home focused on energy efficiency and green building. The home had become infested with black mold after a flood. After trying to renovate the family moved out and started a complete rebuild, green style and decided to share the process with the world. The home is meant to inspire others in making eco-friendly renovations and will open for tours next month.

The original home was a clapboard home and the new home is a masonry style home powered by solar panels, geothermal heat, hybrid hot water and with passive lighting devices called Solatubes in each closet and in the center hallway on the second level.Part of being green was also about choosing energy-efficient, health-promoting appliances and furnishings. Decorating green goes beyond energy-efficient appliances and into things like low VOC paints and cabinets and furnishings that use no-formaldehyde glues or adhesives.

That's where one of my new faves, woodworker David Stine comes in. His pieces are made from wood that is on his own property so he has a vested interest in sustainable harvesting. Robert Kennedy Jr. and his wife Mary Richardson Kennedy met Stine recently and picked out a few pieces for their home include Stine's Wave bench and the Lamb Table. Both pieces work well with the home's style which combines classic and modern elements. It appears they hit it off personally as well. At right RFK Jr. instructs Stine in one of his favorite hobbies, falconry.

Furniture designer David Stine doesn't just design the tables, desks and other wood furnishings in his line, he selects every tree, mills every board and crafts each piece of furniture by hand to create a unique work of art. Stine harvests much of his high quality lumber from his family's own forests in Illinois. He mills the logs at his woodshop, basing his designs on what the wood reveals rather than the other way around. The process is akin to the way artisan gemcutters work with mineral rough, the piece is evaluated for size, angles, etc. so that the maximum beauty of the natural material is revealed. It's no surprise that his work has been featured in Forbes Life and other places and that his clientele includes writer and pundit Andrew Sullivan, Crate & Barrel owners Gordon and Carole Segal and actor and activist Michael J. Fox.

In addition to the limited edition pieces in his portfolio (check out the gallery below) clients may custom order furniture to their exact specifications. All pieces are hand crafted using traditional methods of joinery and construction and environmentally safe finishes. The pine cant bench shown above sells for $1,150.