colin stief and chris skodi: amishmade

‘amishmade’ collection by colin steif, chris skodi and levi fisher

american industrial designers colin stief and chris skodi have developed the ‘amishmade’ collection under the teaching of amish craftsman levi fisher. the traditionally agrarian amish people of have a rich history of craftsmanship. designers stief and skodi approached fisher, propelled by their concern regarding amish design being fairly inaccessible outside of the confined amish community of lancaster county, pennsylvania, USA. their series of furniture objects is a modernized and more easily distributed set of classic amish furniture design. the simply constructed pieces may be flattened and shipped easily, fit together by the owner of the work upon its arrival. the assembly of the designs requires no screws or fasteners, but rather the traditional mortise, tenon and ship lap joints maintain each piece’s form. through the flexible nature in the assembly of the collection, stief, skodi and fisher were able to minimize the greatest hindrance in amish design reaching a more global scale.

the coat rack

the table

the stool

view of the stool both complete and in segments and complete

left: detailed view of peg rails from the coat rack with both pieces joined together   right: the coat rack may lock together to stand freely but may come apart to be used as two individual racks to lean against a wall

left: the amishmade table right: detailed view of the table leg left: the amishmade stool right: detailed view of the stabilizing segment of the stool, displaying peg-and-hole joining system

left: final stool prototype in levi’s shop right: working on final models with levi

the stool in progress 

conceptual sketches of the series

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication.