Furniture makers rescuing Connecticut’s urban trees

For the past 15 years Ted’s art has explored the whimsy and fascination of childhood, boldly experimenting with materials to enliven children’s spaces. While working on the Connecticut Trash Museum exhibit about our “throw away society”, the idea of handcrafted furniture from street trees took hold. Street trees, considered waste by most municipalities, were the solution: a way to upcycle a perceived waste product into sustainable, unique and meaningful furniture. City Bench is the result. Ted lives with his wife, three children, two cats and two dogs in Higganum, CT.

Zeb has had a variety of incarnations: builder, rock concert coordinator, book tour manager, advertising and film set veteran, and trip leader for Outward Bound and the National Outdoor Leadership School. He is a graduate of the Journalism School at Columbia University and lives with his family in New Haven, CT.

Ben graduated from Southern Connecticut State University in 2011, majoring in sculpture and minoring in metalsmithing, where his materials of choice were steel and animal bone. After graduating he spent two years with an art conservator rehabilitating monuments in cement, bronze and stone. Wood is a more recent medium, but he has a natural feel for it and has become an extraordinary craftsman. Outside the shop he turns wrenches on project cars.

Michael studied studio art at Southern Connecticut State University and earned his MFA in sculpture at the University of Connecticut. He has taught at Southern Connecticut State University, Fairfield University and Manchester Community College, and worked with an art object conservator preserving historic objects. His work explores preserving wood’s living qualities through utility, and has been exhibited throughout New England. He lives in Naugatuck, CT.