About Brian:

Brian Miskinis began his career as a woodworker as a fine art framer at the Vorpal Gallery in San Francisco.  There he created custom designed frames to highlight the original work of artists such as MC Escher and Pablo Picasso. 

“In framing, I learned early on that the design of the frame is a crucial component to bringing out the beauty of the piece.  I worked closely with artists to design custom frames that would suit the style of their work, and highlight the natural beauty of the art.”   

Brian moved back to Massachusetts in 2002, and for the next two years he worked as a furniture restorer at Restorations of Marblehead, in Marblehead MA.  

“There’s just nothing like the feeling of taking a piece of furniture that has been sitting in an attic for years, and restoring it to its natural beauty.  I am careful to leave the character of the pieces intact.  It’s the little things,  the tooth marks on the corner of an end table where a now grown child once learned to stand, the natural grooves in the arms of a favorite fireside chair, those are the things that make a piece of furniture priceless.”  

In 2003 Brian was accepted to the furniture program at the North Bennett Street School where he studied for the next two years.  There he learned the craft of early American and old English furniture through replicating the designs of master craftsmen.

“When I replicate a piece, I look at the original beauty of the work, and then I find ways to make the design my own.  Sometimes it’s as simple as extending the graceful curve of the leg of a chair to give it more of a fluid line, or deepening the carving on the backsplat of chair to increase the drama of the design; it’s inspiring to work with the designs of craftsmen from days gone by.  North Bennett gave me the skills to create beautiful pieces using the bare minimum of tools.  I enjoy hand carving; pieces come to life before my eyes, and there’s just no substitute for a hand-carved ball and claw foot, or delicate scrollwork to accentuate the beauty of a piece of furniture.”

After graduating from North Bennett Street School in 2005, Brian joined Lindsey Studios, a coop of furniture makers in Deerfield, New Hampshire.  Now, he takes on commission pieces, both reproduction and original designs.

“I find inspiration all around me.  The entwined roots of trees become the basis for a four-poster bed; the distressed wood of an old barn inspires me to design a farm house tressel table.  The landscape of rural New Hampshire is a constant source of inspiration.