2014 Veneer Tech Craftsman’s Challenge Woodworking Winners
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2014 Grand Prize Winner Transitional Cabinets Keith Morgan/Aaron Nash Bespoke Minneapolis Certainly Wood, distributor Greg Engle, Sales Representative
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Honorable Mention Architectural Woodworking Rustic Urban Living Room Thomas Daniels Wood Interiors Unlimited
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Honorable Mention Architectural Woodworking Kriton & McConkie Fetzer Architectural Woodwork
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Honorable Mention Architectural Woodworking Business School Fetzer Architectural Woodwork
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Category Winner Architectural Woodworking Master Closet Kirk Coryn Kirk Kreations
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Category Winner Cabinetry Royal Crescent Kitchen Keith Morgan and Aaron Nash Bespoke Minneapolis
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Category Winner Furniture Jewelry Armoire Richard Hubbs Richard Hubbs Furniture and Design
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Category Winner Specialty Items Bringer of Peace Spider Johnson/Lora Hunt
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Category Winner Student Design Frank Olof Jondelius, University of Washington
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Category Winner Wearable Veneer Solar Eyewear-Buckeye/Maple Burl Split Arc-Iris
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Honorable Mention Furniture King Bed Kirk Coryn Kirk Kreations
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Honorable Mention Furniture Lamp Table Richard Hubbs Richard Hubbs Furniture and Design
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Honorable Mention Furniture Fine Line Hall Table Alfons Laicher Alfons Laicher Custom Furniture & Woodworking
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Honorable Mention Furniture Chapel Altar Joel McCoy Redwood Ecotectural
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Honorable Mention Furniture Pedestal Dining Table Joel Shepard Joel Shepard Furniture
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Honorable Mention Furniture Chippendale Marquetry Table Tops Tony Smith Tony Smith Fine Furniture and Conservation
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Honorable Mention Specialty Items Mechanics Tool Box Danny Birnbaum Saco Birnbaum Fine Woodworking
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Honorable Mention Specialty Items Morning Contemplation Robert Bodzan Just Marquertry Studio
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Honorable Mention Specialty Items Pidium Jeff Cruzan
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Honorable Mention Specialty Items Inner Sanctum Ray Jones, Ray Jones Woodcrafts
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Honorable Mention Student Design Alfred Bar Cabinet Kristopher Chan University of Washington
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Honorable Mention Student Design Contemporary Desk Erik Lutz Cedar Ridge High School
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Honorable Mention Student Design Pare Abigail Smith Appalachian State University
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Honorable Mention Wearable Veneer The Garter Sunglasses Altare Designs, LLC
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Honorable Mention Wearable Veneer Arborglass 2014 Designs Coby Unger Philadelphia University
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Honorable Mention Specialty Items Gorilla Rodney Pike, Pike Design

ATLANTA - The grand prize winning entry of the Tenth Annual Veneer Tech Craftsman’s Challenge™ woodworking competition is “Transitional Cabinets” by Keith Morgan and Aaron Nash of Bespoke Minneapolis, Larchwood, IA. This couture work features herringbone parquetry on the lower deck and ceiling, curved interior corners, perpendicular veneer door edges flanked by walnut piping, teak micro reeding on both the vertical and horizontal matching of the ziricote exteriors, and Burmese teak interiors. As announced at IWF Atlanta, Bespoke Minneapolis is awarded the $3000 top prize in this design competition recognizing excellence in veneer woodworking. Certainly Wood is the materials supplier for the project and receives $2000. Sales representative Greg Engle receives $1000 in recognition of his participation in the supply chain.

The category winners in this year’s competition, each receiving $1000 are:

Architectural Woodworking, Kirk Coryn, Kirk Kreations, Sapulpa, OK, for “Master Closet;” Cabinetry, Keith Morgan and Aaron Nash, Bespoke Minneapolis, Larchwood, IA, for "Royal Crescent Kitchen;” Furniture, Richard Hubbs, Richard Hubbs Furniture and Design, Ferdinand, IN, for “Jewelry Armoire;” Special Items, Spider Johnson and Lora Hunt, Mason, TX, for marquetry pictorial “Bringer of Peace;” Student Design, Olof Jondelius, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, for chair entry “Frank;” and in a judges’ special category, Wearable Veneer, Arc-Iris, Pocatello, ID, for “Solar Eyewear, Buckeye/Maple Burl Split.”

The judges also awarded honorable mention for an additional 19 entries:

Architectural Woodworking, Fetzer Architectural Woodwork, Salt Lake City, UT, for “Kirton & McConkie” and for “Business School,” and Thomas M. Daniels, Wood Interiors Unlimited, Osceola, WI, for “Rustic Urban Living Room;” Furniture, Richard Hubbs, Richard Hubbs Furniture and Design, Ferdinand, IN, for “Lamp Table,” Joel Shepard, Joel Shepard Furniture, Seattle, WA, for “Pedestal Dining Table,” Alfons Laicher, Alfons Custom Furniture and Woodwork, Victoria, BC, for “Fine Line Hall Table,” Tony Smith, Tony Smith Fine Furniture and Conservation, Berkeley, CA, for “Chippendale Marquetry Table Tops,” Joel McCoy, Redwood Ecotectural, Eureka, CA, for “Chapel Altar,” and Kirk Coryn, Kirk Kreations, Sapulpa, OK, for “King Bed;” Specialty Items, Robert Bodzan, Just Marquetry Studio, Mississauga, ON, for “Morning Contemplation,” Jeff Cruzan, Sharon, MA, for “Pidium,” Danny Birnbaum, Saco Birnbaum Fine Woodworking, East Orange, NJ, for “Mechanics Tool Box,” Ray Jones, Ray Jones Woodcraft, Asheville, NC, for “Inner Sanctum,” and Rodney Pike, Pike Design, Wendouree, Victoria, Australia, for “Gorilla;” Student Design, Kristopher Chan, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, for “Alfred Bar Cabinet,” Erik Lutz, Cedar Ridge High School, Chapel Hill, NC, for “Contemporary Desk,” and Abigail Smith, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, for “Pare;” and in the judges’ special category of Wearable Veneer, Altare Design, Kankakee, IL, for “The Garter Sunglasses,” and Coby Unger, Philadelphia University, Philadelphia, PA, for “Arborglass 2014 Designs.”

The over 100 entries in this year’s competition can be viewed on the Veneer Technologies website at http://www.veneertech.com. Details about the category winning entries plus judge comments can be found at the website. There is also an archive of 2005-2013 competitions’ entries.

Experts from the fields of woodworking media and education, furniture making, and hardwood veneer manufacturing formed the panel of judges for the 2014 Veneer Tech Craftsman’s Challenge. Tim Fixmer of CCI Media is publisher of CabinetMaker+FDM magazine, co-sponsor of the Veneer Tech Craftsman’s Challenge, and is a member of the Woodwork Career Alliance Education Committee. Wave Oglesby is vice president, sales and marketing, for Columbia Forest Products. Alfred Sharp’s period furniture has been featured in Antiques, Colonial Homes, Custom Woodworking, Fine Woodworking, Woodwork, and Woodshop News magazines.

Sharp commented on the panel’s selection of Bespoke Minneapolis for the grand prize and for the Cabinetry category, “When I look at these entries, I’m envious of the level of design and even more of the quality of execution that went into this work.” Fixmer said, “This year’s competition was filled with high quality entrants. We had some very difficult decisions to make in many categories, and we created an ad hoc category ‘Wearable Veneers,’ to recognize three veneer eyeglass frame designs.”

The Veneer Tech Craftsman’s Challenge entries for 2015 will be accepted beginning the first of January. Next year’s competition results will be announced at AWFS® Las Vegas.

Veneer Technologies, located in Newport, NC, is one of the industry’s largest manufacturers of high quality face veneer, sheet veneer and edgebanding. Veneer Tech sources wood species worldwide.

Source: Veneer Technologies, Inc.

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