Fingerprint Furniture

Vorden, Gelderland

Maker's Story

Annette Köhnen , who trades under the name of Fingerprint Furniture, did not come directly to furniture making, her path was definitely not straight and simple. Although the seed for furniture was already planted during her time at the Free School in Germany, she first spent time in New Zealand and Northern Ireland before training as a remedial pedagogue. Working with people was a rich experience, yet while doing this work there still remained an irresistible urge to make things using her hands.

After several courses in furniture making, she discovered the books of James Krenov (one of the most influential furniture makers of the 20th century) and things fell into place for her.

She then had the good fortune to attend a two-year course in "Fine Woodworking" at the College of the Redwoods (now "The Krenov School") in California under the tutelage of James Krenov (and a group of exceptionally skilled teachers). It was a special and inspiring time and still influences Annette’s work every day.

Ii’s essence is an uncompromising search for quality, a healthy distrust of new things as an end in itself, and the conviction that the human hand surpasses any machine in precision and free expression.

Now designing and working with wood, as a living material, is experienced as a searching process striving for beauty and quality, a dance of watching and listening to a silent but living material.

Krenov always emphasised the importance of the maker's fingerprint in the work, his responsibility for a scarce and beautiful material that should be treated with respect and attention. As a result Annette makes and sells her furniture under the name of “Fingerprint Furniture”.

"The understanding eye sees the maker's fingerprints.
They are evident in every detail." James Krenov

The Process

Good tools have an important place in Annette’s work - both machines and hand tools, she place high demands on them.

The machines do the coarse heavy work, giving her the space and energy to do the fine work by hand. Allowing her the opportunity to transform the piece into something unique -to leave her fingerprint on it.

Using fine and sharp tools creates a dynamic dialogue between hands and wood.

The result of this dialogue are designs with strong joinery, eye-catching shapes that contain tension, soft surfaces that want to be touched and details that invite discovery.

Annette works mainly with native woods - she gives finding the right wood for each piece of furniture a lot of attention and all the time it needs.

Sometimes the wood is the starting point, sometimes she looks for the appropriate wood to match the design. But it is always a fluid process in which the material plays the leading role.

In Annette’s work, as a designer/ furniture maker, she experiences her craftsmanship as a link in a long line of crafts in which traditions, techniques, forms and proportions are passed on and refined each time.

It’s Annette’s sincere hope that her furniture invites their owners to touch, use and discover in the long term, to use and discover, and with their quiet presence be anchor points of beauty in this busy, noisy world.