Popular Woodworking 2006-12 № 159, страница 63

Great Woodshops

Recreating Greene & Greene

James Ipekjian has built a career on reproducing furniture designed by Charles and Henry Greene.

James Ipekjian didn't set out to become an expert on reproducing the early 20th-century furniture designed by architects Charles and Henry Greene, and he can't really explain how he got to be where he is today.

"If there were a contest for the luckiest woodworker on the planet" he says, "I don't know if I'd win - but I think I'd be one of the finalists."

Today, he works alone in a comfortably cluttered but remarkably well-equipped shop located near the ultimate bungalows built by the Greenes in Pasadena, Calif. In the 1970s, Ipekjian was working as a model maker in the aerospace industry, and building projects from Popular Mechanics out of plywood in his garage. Bitten by the woodworking bug, he wondered if he could possibly make a living working with wood. A commission for an 18th-century highboy, as well as dissatisfaction with his job, led him to give it a try.

Working first in his garage, and later in a rented storefront, Ipekjian did all the work that came his way: kitchen cabinets, remodeling jobs and the occasional antique repair. His story isn't that different from a lot of woodworkers - except that some of the remodeling and repair work was on original Greene and Greene houses and furniture. Ipekjian had the drive to get the details exactly right, and the quality and range of his work since then has attracted attention worldwide.

In the early 1980s, Ipekjian purchased property to build a 3,000-square-foot shop. Inflation and rising interest rates kept him from building for a few years, but eventually he built the shop he works in today. He moved out for a few years to a larger shop full of old

Old industrial machinery, like this massive bandsaw, shares space with impeccable reproductions of Greene and Greene furniture in Jim Ipekjian's workshop in Pasadena, Calif.

machinery, but came back to his original location three years ago when the city needed his property. For the last 13 years, Ipekjian has worked almost exclusively on reproducing the work that Peter and John Hall originally made for Greene and Greene.

Some of the vintage, industrial-size machinery made the return trip to his current shop, including an Oliver sliding table saw, one of the widest jointers I've ever seen, and an ancient yet efficient mortiser. In a small room at the back of the shop is a fully

by Robert W. Lang

Comments or questions? Contact Bob at 513-531-2690 ext. 1327 or robert.lang@fwpubs.com.

Visit his web site at craftsmanplans.com.

equipped machine shop. This remnant from Ipekjian's days as a model maker allows him to fabricate metal parts and hardware when he needs to.

Just inside the front door sit reproductions of two different Greene and Greene chairs, and the Gamble house's entry table. "That's my showroom," says the soft-spoken craftsman. "Nothing fancy; I think the work speaks for itself." I spent two days looking at original pieces by Greene and Greene before visiting Ipekjian's shop; to say I was impressed would be a serious understatement. Except for a lack of aged patina, his reproductions were the equal of the originals down to the smallest detail.

As Ipekjian explains the details of how a

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Popular Woodworking December 2006