Craft as Relationship: Eva Mechler, Master Furniture Maker

Craft is... about the tactile and visual relationship between the user and the maker. It is or should be an intimate relationship, even if the maker and the user have never met. In the making of an object, especially a completely handmade object, the maker is using every sense she has – touch, smell, form, even sound – while touch, being understood as the hand of the maker, is the most significant connection of all.

So states Eva Mechler, a master furniture maker and designer based in Switzerland. There is much I could say about the quality of her artistic formation and her career – from her youth spent in her grandfather’s cabinet workshop, which by his time was already a generational enterprise; to her apprenticeship, Master’s degree, and woodworking experience in Germany and Zurich, Switzerland; to her current role heading up her own workshop, where she and her team specialize in minimalist, contemporary designs and bespoke pieces; to her multiple awards and design gallery exhibitions. But this information is mostly available on her website or has been covered in other interviews. It was this comment, rather, that caught my attention, as it seems to strike at the core of Eva’s artistic vision and motivations.

When communicating with Eva, one of the first things to become apparent is the deep connection between her family and her work. From her earliest memories, she set up next to her grandfather at her own little workbench. At first, she was too little to help and simply watched him create pieces out of wood; later, he taught her how to make children’s toys. She knew even then that she would follow in his footsteps, carrying on a family tradition that is now over one hundred and forty years old.

Eva Mechler, 400 Year Stool, 2020

Now, as the owner of her own fully equipped workshop, her focus has shifted from looking up to her grandfather to looking forward to her future – and the futures of her daughters, Emma and Lily. When I asked Eva for her favorite piece of art by another artist, she selected a watercolor painting created by one of the girls when she was just three years old. “The picture,” she says, “was created entirely by herself, with her A4 paper being completely covered with multiple color dashes the result of which inspires with a wonderful vibrancy that is impossible to ignore.” Her daughters are a constant source of inspiration, both in their youthful artistic exuberance and in the opportunity, they present to design unique, love-filled furniture to reflect their growing lives.

Eva Mechler, Bath, 2016

Based on these familial connections, it is little surprise that Eva’s work, despite its minimalist and contemporary qualities, bears the mark of a maker’s hand that is as profoundly attuned to the people who will use the pieces as it is to the unique needs and properties of the wood used to create it. There is a sense of stability to her work, which is formed out of solid wood, that balances the dynamic compositions of their design. She is adamant that the wood itself be part of each piece’s “storytelling” process, giving it a unique identity and expression. She has even experimented with wood itself as a work of art. She stays with each piece from design until completion, preferring to make each item “exclusively by hand in her own workshop” – a process that, for pieces like her simple and beautiful Lounge Chair, can take around sixty hours.

Eva Mechler, Lounge Chair, 2023

As part of a community of master furniture makers, Eva also draws inspiration from her relationships with other titans of the craft. Her favorite day so far as an artist, she admits, was “when Guillaume Rolland, Design Director at Studio Liaigre Paris, visited my workshop to witness the production of a bespoke item of furniture I made for a client of his.” She also enjoys cooperating with other makers, such as when she constructs furniture for other designers or when her own pieces call for parts involving materials like metal, leather, fabric, or glass. Part of the beauty of crafts such as furniture making is the ability to foster innovative, creative expressions inside of a long-standing tradition, where voices from the past and present continue to guide its development for generations to come.

All of the influences – family, friends, professional connections, traditional techniques, the wood itself – and many more, I have come to suspect, linger in Eva’s mind each time she picks up her pencil or chisel. As a master craftsman, Eva is first and foremost a bridge between her medium and its ultimate user, channeling many lifetimes of experience and passion into each finished piece. 

Eva Mechler, Tall Table, from The Peking Collection

Nor is it any accident that it is touch, rather than sight, that most fuels her work. While I have minimal experience creating three-dimensional artwork, if my singular college sculpture class was any (admittedly, meager) indication, engaging with tangible, tactile media is a very different form of encounter than working with pencil, pen, or brush. The act of putting one’s hands to a piece again and again, examining it closely, and carefully nurturing it to achieve the most striking possible details fosters a level of closeness that is incompatible with the emotional distance (or even caustic irony) that some forms of two-dimensional art can allow. Craftsmanship demands touch. It demands intimacy, a collaborative relationship between maker and medium. And true craftsmanship extends this invitation to the final user, as well. Eva’s furniture does more than acknowledge this reality; it is central to her “way of being” as an artist and maker.

Eva Mechler, Wood as Art (Concept)

At their core, Eva’s furniture designs are meant to be as beautiful, clean, and simple as they are functional. As she thinks about the future of her profession, she hopes to see more interior designers willing to make bold decisions in their spaces that allow wood to “tell its own story.” She is also doing her own part to carry on the woodworking tradition, “teaching young artisans employed in [her] workshop” and “proving that craftsmanship can be the key to contemporary culture.” Her hope extends even to users of her work that, set aside her never having met, have not even been born. The relationships forged by a shared experience of craft are as little bound by time as they are by place, and she anticipates future generations appreciating her work for decades – perhaps even centuries – to come.

Eva Mechler

There is undoubtedly far more that could be said about Eva’s work, from the ins and outs of her design and construction processes to the exclusivity and privacy of her bespoke designs, reflecting each customer’s personality and circumstances. Still, it is above all heartening to see that there are still committed makers like Eva, who value both the long-standing tradition of their craft and the countless connections and relationships upon which it is built, which give time-honored techniques a constant, fresh, and intimate sense of life.

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