Harvey Ellis Organizer

Furniture is just a collection of boards and hardware that are milled, cut, and fashioned in a manner that then can be joined together to serve a specific task. Unfortunately, a lot of furniture is just as boring as that description. But that’s not true of the piece you see in these photos. Just looking at this organizer (it also can serve as a desk) you know an artist that cared was involved in its design. His name is Harvey Ellis. Harvey Ellis was an architect and artist from Rochester, New York. His artistic drive took him to Minnesota and Missouri, but ultimately he ended up back in New York working for Gustav
Stickley. He didn’t work long for Stickley (about seven months), but long enough that the influence of his artistic interpretation of furniture became one of the quintessential families of Arts and Crafts furniture that bears his name. Good for him. And good for us as well. We get to spend some shop time milling and massaging all this warm, lovely cherry. But there are some challenging tasks here — stepped mortises for the locks and hinges. And the inlay work is a reward all its own that just might inspire other creative projects. Let’s go have some fun.