Remarkable Mentors: James Krenov
Krenov’s cabinets and books would have secured him a place in the pantheon of 20th-century furniture makers. But in 1981 some devotees of his books arranged a teaching position for him in Northern California that evolved into a full-time program.
James Krenov’s journey took him from Siberia, where he was born, to northern Alaska, where his parents—aristocrats who fled after the Russian Revolution—worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs during his boyhood, to Seattle, where he spent his teens. He then went to Sweden, where he studied furniture making under Carl Malmsten and began making his characteristic cabinets in his basement. His work attracted notice in Sweden and abroad, and he was invited to teach at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in 1968 and twice later. As he often did, he rubbed some people at RIT the wrong way, but others were captivated by his furniture and his ability to identify with impromptu eloquence the springs and satisfactions of creativity in a manual craft.
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Fingertips. Krenov said about opening a cabinet that it should be “a fingertip adventure,” and he fitted each of his pieces with carved pulls and other details meant to inspire tender handling and close inspection.
When Craig McArt, an American craftsman and friend, urged Krenov to write a book, he did. And in 1976, when A Cabinetmaker’s Notebook—a contemplation of the contours of a maker’s life—was published, Krenov found himself receiving hundreds of letters from people around the world who recognized themselves and their aspirations in his words. The book was an enormous success, and he followed it up with two more in the next few years, which also struck a chord with readers.
Krenov’s cabinets and books would have secured him a place in the pantheon of 20th-century furniture makers. But in 1981 some devotees of his books arranged a teaching position for him in Northern California that evolved into a full-time program where students spent one or two years studying the craft with Krenov. The exceptionally high quality of the work produced by students there and the depth of Krenov’s passion made the school a destination for makers from around the world, and it has produced scores of prominent furniture makers. The Krenov School, in Fort Bragg, Calif., is now led by one of Krenov’s students, Laura Mays.
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