John Economaki

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tchp

(@tchp)

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07/07/2015 5:33 am

Several years ago I was helping a friend by taking some photos of an estate appraisal, where he knew my motivation to help would be to just tag along to see the stuff that was there. One of the items I saw was this tea cart. I was struck by the craftsmanship and design of it, but did not know who made it. Some time later I ran into my friend again, and asked about it, and he said that he seemed to recall being told that it was made by someone local to Portland, Oregon.

Today I was at a thrift store and picked up a rosewood nutcracker, dated '79 and signed with an illegible stylized signature. I identified it on the internet pretty quickly, and saw it was made by a Portland woodworker named John Economaki. In the course of looking up information on him, I came across photos taken at an exhibition of his work at the Portland Museum of Contemporary Craft, and spotted the same type of tea cart in the background of one of the photos. So, now I finally know who made the tea cart. I am kind of surprised that I was not familiar with his work until now, being that I live in the same city.

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leif ericson - Zephyr Renner

(@leif-ericson)

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07/07/2015 5:46 am

But who who have expected a tea cart from an American studio furniture maker. The chairs make it too obvious. But a teacart?

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tchp

(@tchp)

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Joined: 14 years ago

Posts: 1274

07/07/2015 5:57 am

I felt that the tea cart showed a strong Asian influence, and my initial assumption was that it was probably a contemporary Asian craftsman who did work of very high quality. At the same time also saw that it was similar to the way that designers like Wegner had reinterpreted Asian influences, which only made it more intriguing.

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