Publications
March 8, 2007, LoHud blog.
Mary Shustack shops around
"A memorable launch"
It was a big day in New York for a lot of locals in the home-and-design field. But perhaps no one was as excited as Dan Lehmeier of Cortlandt Manor. “This is my big debut,” Lehmeier told me. And he wasn’t kidding. I got to meet him this morning when I spent a couple of hours at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show,. The annual event features some 300 exhibitors filling Pier 94 alongside the Hudson River in Manhattan. It’s a showcase of the latest in home furnishings, with exhibitors, special events, demonstrations and design consultations. Today was open to the trade (and press) only, with the public welcome tomorrow through Sunday. As you can see, they were still putting the finishing touches on the stylish lounge area: The veteran builder (who designed and built his own home) had been planning for this moment the last couple of years. As he shared, he’s been “building the pieces and my confidence, honestly.” And he certainly was showing off the results of these efforts, with furniture, sculpture and clocks that feature mostly North American woods including cherry, walnut and American redwood. He’s a big fan of using found pieces, especially storm-damaged wood for the feel it imparts. “It’s all about the wood for me,” he said. Until today, Lehmeier has been honing his craft out of a home studio/gallery, seeing customers by appointment. “Nobody knows about me yet,” he said. Have a feeling that will be changing....
Carving out a niche
By MARY SHUSTACK THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication:
April 27, 2007)
Someone sees a storm-damaged tree and thinks about destruction. Dan Lehmeier, though, might think about a coffee table. Or a clock. Or any of the other pieces of furniture and decorative accessories he carves out of reclaimed wood.
Finding the object hidden within a mass of cherry, walnut or American redwood is the heart of Casselwood Creations. It's a company the longtime Cortlandt Manor contractor formally introduced at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show in Manhattan. Adrenaline was Lehmeier's companion on that early March day when the show first opened for a trade and press preview. "Of course, I wanted to go all night long," he says. "I was like 'It's 6 o'clock. We've got to leave?' " Lehmeier was reacting to the positive response his booth - and therefore, his path - was garnering.
Such a good response doesn't surprise Raymond Rocklin. The former Westchester artist, now living in Wayne County, Pa., has long followed Lehmeier's career. They first met when Lehmeier bought some of Rocklin's work, which ranges from wood sculpture and jewelry to creations in stone, bronze and other metals. In particular, Rocklin says, Lehmeier's clocks have resonated with him, though all of Lehmeier's work has left him "very impressed." "It's very different," he says. "The slabs are different, the unevenness ... Sometimes the impact of just leaving it is very creative." Not everyone feels that free, Rocklin explains. "People generally hold back, but he doesn't."
Lehmeier's comfort level with his chosen medium is clear. After all, the 42-year-old has long worked with wood, owning his own business since he was 23. "For me, I don't think there was ever a thought of what I was going to do when I grew up," he says. "It's always been about creating with my hands and woods." Cassel Construction -Cassel is his mother's maiden name - has seen him through countless projects, including the design and creation of his own home, a showpiece that dazzles on a wooded perch of land adjacent to Blue Mountain Reservation in Peekskill.
The home, not surprising, is a showcase of his philosophy and ability, from the sculptures that surround the swimming pool to the cedar kitchen cabinets to the trunks and branches featured in the intricate main staircase. Throughout, though, a low-key style emerges, one that seems to reflect the way Lehmeier and his wife, Barbara Waldron, a physical therapist, live. "I didn't want to overwhelm the house with pieces," Lehmeier says. Within his home is a small studio gallery, where he meets with potential clients, by appointment, and looks ahead to a series of open houses in June. It's necessary, Lehmeier says. "People need to see things."
Through his Web site and studio visits, Lehmeier says he hopes to also cultivate a clientele that includes galleries, architects and interior designers. The works, by nature, sometimes need to find a specific audience as they can be large in scale. Prices, he says, start around $450 and climb into five figures. "That limits where they can go and who can afford them," Lehmeier says. To broaden his reach, Lehmeier is exploring new directions, as well. "I think I need to create smaller pieces," he says. No matter, Lehmeier has put his construction jobs on the back burner while he concentrates on these hand-carved creations. For most every one, he begins with a sketch, working on graph paper before taking on the wood itself, which he chalks up before he begins.
These days, Lehmeier relies on some basic hand tools and a few "good-quality" power tools. "It's like in construction, the longer I did it, the less I learned I needed," he says, clearly pleased. "I'm finding I don't even want it or need it, which excites me because I'm getting away from the normal 'shop scenario' ... I'm not interested in straight lines." Indeed, his workshop finds him surrounded by wood that evokes the feeling of anything but all things linear. There are pieces of black walnut that reach nearly 10 feet tall, steps away from remnants of a redwood stump that might date back 1,000 years. Some pieces are filled with colorful streaks, others have curlicued edges. "It's so exciting, as you work on them and it starts to come to life," Lehmeier says.
Lehmeier may often spend months looking at a piece of wood until its design jumps out at him. "The wood guides me along, honestly," he says. "Every wood has its own character." Walnut, for example, is "really user-friendly. It's a pleasant wood to tool." Lehmeier has built up a network of sources, both local and up and down the East Coast, from which he obtains his wood, which he has milled for him. "Collecting the wood, when you find the right piece, it's euphoria," he says. But he doesn't want to go overboard. "I'm lucky I don't have a huge field," he says. "I tend to be a collector. I could end up with mountains of wood."
As it is, Lehmeier has a spacious workshop, where tables often feel dwarfed by the wood that's stacked around the work surfaces. All are destined for projects, one day. His family has long followed his career, from his sister Norma Lehmeier Hartie (author of "Harmonious Environment"), who lives next door, to his sister-in-law, Jen Waldron of Garrison. "He has such a love for wood," Waldron says. "All of his works, I feel like they have a life, and they flow. He brings the life out of them." Which is what Lehmeier says fuels him every time he sees a piece of wood. "I just keep going, you know," Lehmeier says. "I just keep creating these things."