Computer clash: As the owner of Ragsdale, Inc., a 24 year old decorative art firm whose services include exterior and interior painting and historic restoration in Chicago and the northern suburbs, Steve Ragsdale felt the office where he met clients had its own aesthetic problems. Behind his desk sat his computer stuff, curlicues of wires everywhere. He walked in one day and thought, “This looks awful.”
A play on work: “Then I got it! I’m in the house painting business. So I’ll build a cabinet that looks like a house being painted, with ladders leaning against it and my guys painting it. What a perfect expression for what I do,” he says.
Give me shelter: Over a winter two years ago, Ragsdale designed and built his one-of-a-kind cabinet for computer storage, one that celebrated his passion for all things painted. It was finished in trompe l’oeil: an ornate Victorian home with Ragsdale painters busy at work on it.
Clients who saw the finished cabinet wanted something similar. The light bulb went on again as Ragsdale realized, “there are 50 million people out there with computers, and other than adapting traditional office furniture to their needs, they have no other options for sheltering computer and electronic components.”
So he founded a second business, Artwood Furniture, to produce and market an original line of functional furniture he calls “The Cribs Collection.”
“I call them computer cribs,” he says. “I’m a guy of the ’60s, `crib’ being a generic place where you hang out. [My cabinets are] a place for your computer to hang out.”
Little showcases: At his office/workshop in Lake Bluff he has several models from which prospective clients can choose. These include “The Adler,” a dignified structure with the look of a troweled stucco finish, inspired by North Shore houses designed by the architect Dankmar Adler. There is realistic “The Jukebox”; the bucolic, rose-trellised “The Gardener’s Hideout” and the rustic red “Barn” with stalls for Elsie and Bessie painted on the inside of the doors.
“I try to design things with themes people are passionate about, making workspaces reflective of the things in life that bring people joy,” says Ragsdale. He often does special orders for clients referred by architects and interior designers.
Official recognition: Ragsdale showed his computer cabinets for the first time at the 2000 North Shore Art League’s National Craft Festival where they won an Award of Excellence. “Okay, we’re on the right track,” he decided.
Detail guy: Woodworking is Ragsdale’s other passion, which shows in the craftsmanship in the storage units. He uses hand-selected birch solids and select birch veneers.
The cabinet interior can be configured as a computer workspace or as an entertainment center. As a computer workspace, he builds in storage drawers, file drawers, even pencil drawers, room for the monitor and the tower.
Among the rich details is a roof that flips up and slides back to reveal additional “attic” space. Local master craftsman Mark Davenport works side by side with Ragsdale in the assembly of the cabinets, which measure 58 inches high plus a 23 inch attic space, 44 inches wide and 23 inches deep.
Classy paint crew: After machining and before final assembly, the panels move to the art studio where they are transformed into a functional work of art. Ragsdale does the decorative finishes. For example, he puts texture on “The Adler” stucco and wood graining on “The Jukebox.”
The fine art work is executed by painter and muralist Sandra Bacon and artisan Kay Wolff. Some pieces are painted in acrylic paints and glazes on the wood. Others are executed on permanently bonded canvas foundation, a technique that adds texture and depth. Once finished, the piece is signed by the artists.
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“The Crib Collection” is $4,000 to $4,500, depending on the painting and the interior configuration. (The entertainment cabinet is less.) Artwood Furniture is located at 709 Sheridan Rd., Lake Bluff, 847-234-4567. The cabinets may be viewed on their Web site, artwood furniture.com.
