Leaving a stretch of farmland along Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the car pulls up beside a workshop nestled beneath towering chestnut oaks. A frisky German Shepherd darts from the woodland in welcome, pressing its nose against the car window. As it trots away, three guinea hens vigorously follow in line. Massive logs piled next to the workshop glimmer with a silvery patina in the pale autumn light—deepening the sense of having entered a charmed natural realm.
This is the world of Vicco Von Voss Furniture and Timber Framing. It’s the place where salvaged trees are transformed into sculptural, sinuous furniture and hand-hewn posts and beams. It’s the site where each one-of-a-kind object that’s produced has been designed and constructed, as well as milled, dried, cut and polished. And it’s the workshop where age-old techniques of fastening and framing live on—as in the 1,000 wood pegs that hold the building itself together.
“My work is about giving respect back to the tree and where it came from,” says Von Voss, sitting in the open office of his barnlike workshop, overlooking heavy machinery and hand tools arranged below. “If a tree takes 80 years to grow, it is my responsibility to design and build a chair that will be comfortable and last that long. Form and function should work together,” he notes, “or it’s not sustainable. What I’m creating is not just for clients, but also heirlooms for their children.”
Von Voss’s commitment to sustainability is a way of life on his five-acre property south of Chestertown, where his workshop, home, edible garden, barnyard animals and beekeeping operations are located. Nearly all the wood he selects is gathered locally from fallen trees—familiar cherry, walnut, and maple set off by more exotic yellowwood, ginkgo, mulberry, and pear.
Outside his workshop door, he uses a sawmill to cut the logs into slabs—some several hundred pounds each. Others are sliced into boards, which are dried outdoors on racks. “The drying time for a typical three-inch slab is a decade,” Von Voss observes, adding that wood scraps are not wasted, but tossed into a nearby furnace that heats his workshop and home. “Milling my own wood takes a lot of time and energy,” he says. “However, I like to be in control of my materials.”
Those powerful exertions preface the mighty creative energy expressed in Von Voss’s dynamic designs, which range in utility from a small tabletop poised on elongated legs of gazelle-like grace to his own two-story, timber-framed house, with its rounded roofline designed to mimic the canopy of surrounding trees.
From inside the house looking out, a tranquil scene at the tip of nearby Island Creek is framed by a pair of book-matched maple timbers that naturally bend toward each other. The woodworker’s wife, Jacqui, calls their home’s handcrafted aesthetic “my dream house…like living in a piece of art.”
Whether building a piece of furniture or a timber-frame structure, Von Voss applies the same traditional construction methods, based on mortise-and-tenon joinery in which two pieces of wood fit together—one project, the other cut out. “It’s just a question of scale and refinement,” he says about the differences.
Each project also reflects Von Voss’s reverence for the cycles of nature embodied in the wood’s core, along with the spiritual relationship between craftsman and material. When starting a new design, he reflects, “I look at a slab of wood and see a straight edge here, a curved edge there, a beautiful grain pattern that has the terrain of the earth; those will determine the design. Instead of trying to manipulate the material, the journey is more about stepping back and listening to the wood, letting it guide me to what it wants to become.”
For one major new residential commission, Von Voss searched for months before finding the perfect specimen among stacks stored in his workshop. Pulling out three small slabs cut from the final curly-maple flitch, he showed how the pieces will be fitted together, carved, manipulated and polished to a glass-like sheen to suggest the flow of a river. The client, who has moved away from the shore, wants to recreate the feel and touch of the waterfront; the extended piece will start out as a mounted wall shelf, and turn a corner before transitioning to become a tributary-like stair rail. “It pushes all the boundaries,” Von Voss explains, “an art installation that will also serve as a functional handrail.”
Later, on a tour of his completed works on view at Carla Massoni Gallery in Chestertown, he points to examples of his latest explorations in mixed media. Collaborating with metal artist Blake Conroy, Von Voss constructed the shapely table and two shelves, laser-cutting indentations into the wood, then inserting Conroy’s bronze, brass and copper cutouts. All parts seamlessly merge in pieces finished to a silken surface.
Tall and lanky with well-defined features and dressed in traditional work clothes, Von Voss is the very model of a classic woodsman. Born in Germany, he learned to carve wood at the knee of his grandfather, a forester. Following the career path of his father, an international businessman, Von Voss grew up on several continents. When his parents finally bought land near Chestertown, his destiny took a different turn. “I fell in love with this area,” he beams.
He graduated as an art major from Washington College in Chestertown in 1991 and then returned to Germany to complete a three-year woodworking apprenticeship.
Before purchasing his current property, Von Voss lived there for eight years—in a cabin without electricity or running water. “Above my bed was a big window, and I would look at the stars at night and wake up looking at trees,” he fondly remembers. “Living like that affects the way you interact with nature. Woodworking helps you understand what the life of a tree is like,” he reflects while gesturing outdoors to the changing season. “When trees turn colors like right now, it’s magical.”
For more information, visit vicco vonvoss.com or call 410-708-4698.
Home to DC’s venerable Cosmos Club since 1952, the landmark Townsend House was designed in 1898 by architecture firm Carrère and Hastings with all the French flourishes popular during the Beaux Arts era. Its ornate style is exemplified in the Louis XV-style Warne Ballroom (above), which combines gilded details, Renaissance-Revival art, and sumptuous crystal-and-gold light fixtures.
After more than a century of use, the 1,000-square-foot space had become dingy and faded, challenged by outdated repairs and moisture issues. So the Cosmos Club Historic Preservation Foundation tapped John Milner Associates Preservation to restore the ballroom to its Gilded Age splendor.
Working with conservator John Canning Studios, JMA Preservation tackled gilding, ornamental plaster, and woodwork. The white-oak parquet floor was stripped and repaired by hand, while sconces were rewired and reset with crystal elements to match the chandelier. Layers of dirt and varnish were painstakingly removed from overdoor and ceiling paintings to restore their vibrancy. Now complete, the nine-month restoration received a 2017 AIA DC Merit award for Historic Resources/Preservation.
Restoration Architecture: John Milner Associates Preservation, MTFA Architecture, Arlington, Virginia.
LONG LASTING
Trex composite decking, posts and railings resist the fading, staining, warping, rotting, mold and mildew that solid wood surfaces battle. Trex comes in 15 hues and is available locally at T.W. Perry. Pictured here, Clamshell decking with a Transcend railing. twperry.com; trex.com
FANFARE
Craftmade’s Mobi 60-inch outdoor ceiling fan boasts three blades, an LED light and a clean-lined silhouette. The fan comes in three finishes; pictured here with Grey Wood blades and an Aged Galvanized metal base. Available locally through Ferguson. ferguson.com; craftmadefansolutions.com
PREMIUM QUALITY
Zuri Premium Decking by Royal replicates the rich look of exotic timber in a low-maintenance, engineered-wood material that comes in five wood-look colors (Pecan is pictured). Scratch-, stain- and slip-resistant, it is available through Royal Building Products. zuri.royalbuildingproducts.com
LIGHTWEIGHT
A patented blend of polypropylene and mineral filler inside Deckorators Vault decking sets it apart from other composite products by making it lighter-weight and easier to handle—but with the same high level of durability. deckorators.com
THE REAL THING
Though ipe is more expensive than composites and requires frequent sealing, extreme durability and striking color variations have made it a popular decking product. Panels of this richly grained Brazilian hardwood are typically available in three- and four-inch widths from Deckscapes of Virginia, located in Catharpin. deckscapesofva.com
WOOD LOOK
Distinction—a line of Envision composite decking from TAMKO Building Products—comes in four hues that mimic wood grain by incorporating knots and four to six shades and highlights on each board. Spiced Teak is pictured. envisiondecking.com
