David Iatesta’s Artistry

It’s so nice to see House Beautiful celebrating the beauties of wood in its current issue. Too bad David Iatesta wasn’t exhibit No. 1, but we’ll celebrate his Stephensville, MD, company right here. He was at the Holly Hunt showroom at the Washington Design Center last week, describing the painstaking process by which his eponymous company transforms trees into the exquisite furniture it makes to order for each customer.

David Iatesta posed with his rescue beagle, Sparky, on top of a pile of driftwood he collected from the banks of the Chesapeake Bay for a magazine feature I wrote about him last year. Photograph by Anne Gummerson

Because he’s local, all this test products come first to Holly Hunt’s DC showroom before they are sent to any of the other 12 showrooms across the country. It was fascinating to hear how David started out  making his furniture — “with an extension cord, a bucket of water, and a paintbrush,” because he now occupies sprawling space in two buildings at an office park one exit beyond the Bay Bridge.

Everything that goes into a piece of Iatesta furniture is sourced in the United States, and most of it locally. And if you ever wonder why his furniture is so bloody expensive, listen to him explain all the steps — the 50 layers of bent wood that go into one table leg, the “painstaking hand work” of sanding, staining, waxing, sanding, staining, waxing, and on and on for each piece to pull out the wood’s grain. And just when you think you’re finished — the steel wool comes out for another work-over, “so when you run your hand across it, it feels like silk,” David says.

David’s office sent pictures from his slideshow, which demonstrate the process of building his furniture, in addition to the final products that result.

Here's an early stage of the Weems console.

Moving right along, hardware is now being applied.

And this is what you see in the catalog.

Here are the door fronts for the Brunswick armoire, ready for the next step.

And the finished piece. Most furniture is available in an array of stains and finishes, which are applied and then sanded countless times in production so the color runs really deep.

An example of the sanding-and-staining process for the Arezzo chair.

The result, which is part of David's new upholstery line.

David has created special tools, which he was purposely vague about, to create rough-hewn surfaces on his consoles and tables. Here’s an example where a surface is intentionally roughed up for the Leone console:

Behind the chisel is a sample of finishes that the artisans use to make sure the color is correct.

The chinks aren't as much of a mistake as one would think.

And here's what you finally see in the catalog -- note the carefully distressed surface.

The Chesapeake Lounge is part of the new upholstery line. All the sewing -- and the weaving of the rush as you see above -- is done in-house.

It's all done in the same building -- nothing is contracted out.

I could really use this in my own living room!

Someday, maybe, I’ll be able to afford some of this furniture. For the moment, I just feel lucky that David has given me a glimpse into the process, so that the price is much more understandable. I would gladly pay it for this kind of intensely local, gorgeous craftsmanship.