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Date: 5/31/2022
SOUTHAMPTON – Kristina Madsen is a high-end furniture maker, working in solitude as she brings form and definition to wood. She designs and builds one-of-a-kind cabinets, chests, beds and other pieces, which are more like fine art than furniture.
“I love wood and fabric. I am inclined toward working with my hands, but it also engages the imagination. It’s a constant challenge so I am truly blessed that I am so eager to go to work every day,” says Madsen.
Coming up with new designs and fresh looks may not be Madsen’s greatest challenge. While other artists make money on the side teaching their craft, Madsen relies solely on income from selling her furniture.
“I have relied on my work as my source of income and it’s meager, very meager,” she said.
Madsen said the financial burden of continuing with her craft is so severe, her work often comes to a standstill as she scrapes together funding to forge on.
Then one day recently she received an email telling her to prepare for a phone call that would change her life. Madsen learned she has received a $100,000 grant from the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation in San Francisco. The benevolent organization finds artists nationwide.
Madsen said the grant couldn’t have come at a better time. “It was a jaw dropper. I was surprised to receive this unbelievably wonderful news. This is quite spectacular,” she said.
Madsen didn’t apply for the grant and she’s unsure how the foundation found her. She works in near anonymity inside a workshop at the end of a 200-yard stone path, leading from her home past gardens and lush greenery. She lives on 80 acres of land in quiet Southampton.
“This grant allows me the freedom to carry on with my work. This is such a blessing to have come at this time. I will be able to work toward my goal of creating an exhibition of my work,” she said.
Madsen wants to create six pieces for that exhibition. So far, she’s finished only one. The grant will jump-start her plan.
“This is all aspirational but this award gives me the time to move forward and pursue the pieces I’m working on. Until now, I was not at all sure whether I’d be able to pull it off financially. I’ve never felt this freedom before,” she said.
Madsen has been working with wood since she was 19 years old. She’s traveled the world, learning from the masters who have taught her how to shape pieces by carving and cutting them in such a way that the entire piece holds together with no nails or glue. She works with fine-grained domestic hardwood and materials from around the world such as tropical and European pear wood, which she described as beautiful and silky.
“There’s great satisfaction in bringing a three-dimensional form out of rough boards – seeing it taken from the imagination through all the stages of becoming an object,” she said.
Each of Madsen’s pieces has a singular look, but there is a common theme. They all work together, one design flowing into another to make a dramatic statement about exploration.
“What they have in common is that they stretch my imagination and technical ability. Each of them explores some new territory, so there’s not going to be too much similarity in appearance. These are ideas that have been percolating for a while,” she said.
Madsen’s isolation gives her the quiet time she needs to envision and focus on her next piece. But isolation is not without its challenges.
“I work alone, and I must keep pushing myself to not get lonely in my workshop. Repetitive work does not keep me on edge as a challenge. Being inventive is what I must do to keep the work exciting,” she said.
Madsen has long dreamed of assembling and showcasing a six-piece exhibition. Now that dream is much closer to coming true.