My designs are grounded both in modernism and in traditional aspects of craft and architecture. I favor clean lines and minimal detailing, but not at the expense of warmth and comfort. On the contrary, I find that the austerity of the best modern design can be soothing, muting the visual noise that most of us endure in daily life. When executed well, it achieves this effect not only through appearance, but through perfect function as well. My furniture is not something to be struggled against, nor is it something that requires a compromise of comfort or utility; it is instead a haven and a body’s respite.
Biography
Matt Cooper came to furniture making by way of an art degree and carpentry. He studied photography in school -- at the University of California at Santa Cruz -- drawn to its intrinsic modernism and its potential for clear visual expression. After graduating, he worked for several years in advertising photography. He ultimately became dissatisfied with its impermanence and began working as a carpenter doing residential remodeling, eventually specializing in finish carpentry. Sharing a woodshop with a friend was a turning point, prompting a change of focus from site work to shop work, and from there to furniture and design. He is a graduate of the two-year Mastery Program at the Northwest Woodworking Studio, and has been designing and building custom furniture for private clients since 1999. In 2004, he and his wife pulled up stakes and moved from Portland, Oregon across country to a small hamlet in upstate New York, where they are both hard at work restoring an 1830's post office and building a new shop on the property.