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What makes a purchase “worth it”? The answer is different for everybody, so we’re asking some of the coolest, most shopping-savvy people we know—from small-business owners to designers, artists, and actors—to tell us the story behind one of their most prized possessions.
Who?
Intricate beauty doesn’t often come from chainsaws. At least that’s what Vince Skelly thought before he came across the late sculptor JB Blunk. The craftsman and designer learned about his mindblowing work while studying visual communications at San Francisco State University. “I basically got to glance into his brain and process as a sculptor,” Vince recalls. “I was mesmerized, I couldn’t get enough.”
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Captivated by the functional chainsaw-crafted sculptures, Vince quickly became obsessed with all-things wood. “I don’t have a background in art, furniture, or design,” he explains on a call from his quiet living room in Claremont, California. Located near the eastern edge of Los Angeles, where he spent his formative years, Vince recently returned to the area after spending 10 years in Portland, Oregon. Deeply inspired by JB, he began collecting logs sourced from roadsides and arborists on Craigslist to build his own projects from the backyard in 2017.
What?
Following the opening of his design studio in 2018, Vince and his wife, Jessie, were gifted a one of a kind rocking chair in the style of Sam Maloof, another famous furniture designer and maker from the area. “He’s from the next town over, so growing up, you always heard people talking about his work or you would see a piece of his in a lobby or somebody’s home,” Vince adds. The chair was handmade by his father-in-law, Jim Barron, who originally designed and built it when he was a college student back in 1978. “It’s a pretty ambitious rocking chair to recreate, especially for a college student just learning wood shop.” But what makes the piece even more special is the crazy and coincidental full-circle story behind it.
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Where & When?
Vince and his wife received the rocking chair back in December 2021 after returning to Claremont. The couple moved into a house designed by the architect Millard Sheets, another hometown hero famous for creating public sculpture art and architecture projects with intricately detailed mosaics and murals. Reflecting on his childhood, Vince recalls frequently seeing his work around town. Here’s where it all comes full circle: When Millard was teaching at Scripps College in Claremont, Sam was still in the early stages of his art career and worked as his assistant. It was Millard who actually introduced the designer to woodworking. “By the time Sam went on to make a name for himself in the studio crafts movement, he just kind of blew up,” Vince adds.
Why?
“I knew about Sam’s chair design, it always stood out as a very striking piece of furniture, with this organic modern design quality to it,” Vince concludes. “So when we moved back to Claremont and I saw that my father-in-law had made a replica, he told us it was meant for a house like ours.” Given the entire history of the design, this particular rocking chair was practically made for the designer’s home. “It’s probably the closest thing I’ll ever get to owning a Sam Maloof, it’s such a special provenance.”
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