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At the age of sixteen, Joseph Mendel began restoring antique furniture
with his father. Joseph’s father also directed him to take
art classes at school. From this background, he gained the desire
to create his own original furniture designs. However, his interests
have been and always will be reproducing antiques.
Joseph Mendel studied to earn a degree in Industrial Arts Education
at Eastern Michigan University and is a graduate from the prestigious
Cabinet and Furniture Making program at the North Bennet Street
School in Boston, Massachusetts.
Joseph Mendel original designs are contemporary interpretations
of Federal style furniture, with an emphasis on delicate and graceful
design, understated surface decorations and a dedication to superior
joinery and craftsmanship.
Joseph Mendel Furniture offerings are an art form in addition
to being a utilitarian home furnishing. Timeless elegance and graceful
proportions define JMF original designs, evoking the great American
furniture heritage. As a skilled artisan, Joseph Mendel crafts classic
reproductions by hand with determined pride, shaping enduring art
forms of American legacy. JMF offers three distinct services to
clients:
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JMF produces distinctive hand-tooled reproductions for clients
who prize furniture for its historical and artistic value. Through
his educational background and over thirty years experience, Mendel
has gained an intimate knowledge of 18th and 19th century furniture
designs, wood choices, construction and finishing methods.
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JMF original designs epitomize the Old World craftsmanship evident
in furniture examples from America’s finest museums. Constantly
impressed with the integrity and technical mastery of the early
craftsmen, Joseph Mendel strives to emulate these qualities into
his designs.
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The JMF studio also restores and makes repairs to antique furniture.
Joseph Mendel does restorations and repairs in accordance with
the piece and its period in a way as to not devalue the furniture.
By practicing proper techniques of restoration, and avoiding being
too invasive on an existing finish, work is done correctly to
enhance the value of a client’s antiques.
The Joseph Mendel philosophy is simple. The customer gets
a clear alternative to expensive antiques or dull, machine-made
copies. By purchasing a JMF product, the customer is making an investment
in their antique of the future.
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A furniture piece that is crafted for the customer. JMF will customize
any piece or create a whole new piece from a customer's rough
sketch or photograph.
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The furniture is made to last for generations. It's hand crafted,
so each piece is unique.
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A professional craftsman makes every piece from the finest woods
available. Every piece of wood is checked for grain and texture
before it’s used.
- Mendel
is a skilled artisan who crafts classics by hand with pride, shaping
enduring art forms of an American legacy and evoking the great
American furniture heritage.
In the heart of North Carolina’s mass-produced furniture manufacturing
center, a dedicated craftsman handcrafts fine furniture in the tradition
of great American design. Joseph Mendel crafts by hand furniture
heirlooms for today's collector, which are destined to be cherished
classics for generations to come. No compromises are made in the
construction of a Joseph Mendel piece.
The best American furniture was made prior to 1820, after which
time machinery was brought into use. Until the coming of the machine
age almost everything had been done by hand. In today’s mainstream
reproduction furniture industry, there is too often an attempt to
make furniture reproductions using modern techniques to reduce production
time.
This business model results in less-than-well-constructed furniture
without the fine details that can only be produced by the human
hand. There is no substitute for a handmade piece of furniture made
by a craftsman who understands the century’s proven methodology.
Joseph Mendel produces furniture with the use of modern machinery;
however, it is the combination of modern technology and the time-tested
hand-fit joinery that makes JMF-built furniture superior to mainstream
furniture products. He still adheres to the belief that the craft
work of highest merit is fashioned by the hands of a master craftsmen
guided by historic precedent.
The essence of this value is evident in classically invoked designs
featuring premium timber, pegged mortise and tenon joints, dovetail
joinery, and hand-rubbed finishes. It is the time-honored attention
to details that distinguishes Joseph Mendel furniture from the merely
ordinary.
Restoration is not only a craft but an attitude. It is an attempt
to restore pieces back to their original state with an allowance
for the effects of time. Joseph Mendel does not confine this approach
to the repair of antique furniture. His rules of restoration apply
to any piece of furniture whether it dates from 1660 or 1960. Antiques
would lose a lot of their appeal if they looked unmarked.
As a skilled cabinet maker, Joseph Mendel allows his personality
to show in his making of a new furniture piece. As a restorer he
is not afforded such luxuries. Where as a cabinet maker he would
quite rightly shudder at the sight of butt and nailed drawers in
an antique chest, as a restorer he accepts them as part of the nature
of the piece.
There are very few companies that will put time over profits to
insure that the furniture being refinished does not get structurally
damaged. Since the loosening of the damaged joinery is not evident
immediately, the client rarely holds the refinisher responsible
when joints eventually fail.
If the damage to a piece of furniture is so severe, removing an
old finish may be needed under such extreme conditions. If the surface
cannot be restored with a less invasive touch-up repair, the old
finish should be removed by using a judicious amount of chemical
in a labor-intensive process that preserves the integrity of the
piece.
Nearly all commercial refinishers utilize either a tank of chemicals
in a vat to submerse furniture, or a flow table where a steady stream
of finish stripper is used to douse furniture to remove an old finish.
These techniques do irreparable damage to glued joints and veneered
surfaces.
Joseph Mendel’s first rule of restoration is to do as little
as possible in the way of repairs and replacing of parts. Then a
step-by-step process is used—starting with moderate techniques
and working up the scale to more severe techniques as needed.
When faced with a dirty or damaged finish, mild cleaners might
be used. If that does not work, he may try to blend the finish back
together with a polish-reviving technique. Only if all else fails
will stripping be undertaken.
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