The journey

Some of these materials come from a far, far away land (relatively). Most of the wood slab and log material comes from a land known as southern Indiana.

I drive down to a little town known as English and see the King. He is a kind and wise man that has a particularly artistic view of the mighty logs that he personally pushes through his sawmill. He is an artist in his own right, so upon his domain of many acres he provides the bounty of Poplar, Ambrosia Maple, White Oak, Sassafras amongst other species that our respective creations spring from.  

The particular sustainably harvested trees from which this bounty is created are what we refer to as "management" logs. These are trees that have been cleared and become available as logs, due to storm damage clean-up, fire break management, timber stand management, etc.

Other pieces include materials reclaimed and salvaged from jobsites that vary in age and location but are mostly here in the Chicago area.

For example, there is a wooden fir post from Hyde Park that spent its life holding up the middle of a two-story brownstone building that likely dates back to the early 1900's. I also have in my possession white marble slabs that perhaps Marshall Field himself chose for his famous downtown department store.

Naming my creations has allowed me to pay homage to my family and ancestral Serb heritage so the names associated with some items are usually the specie of wood or descriptive of the item.

I also happen to have inherited a little of the post-World War II mentality of Pops. Due to the unfortunate (maybe fortunate?) timing of his childhood, this man had a garage full of piles of various metal, broken tools, etc. All of which, we might "need" one day. This all stemmed from what I gathered over the years from oral family history was a bleak landscape to grow up and survive in.

So! Point being, I also hold on to various metal and broken tools which I might "need" one day and very often, it makes for great material (in many ways).

Ultimately, the vast majority of the material used for Sudar Studio has had an interesting and unique journey all its own. See the Salvation of Goodwill for Humanity post for more.