The scent of wood lingers in the air of designer/furnituremaker Eben Blaney's woodworking shop. Eben Blaney Fine Contemporary Furniture has been nestled in the woods of Edgecomb since 2002, where Blaney creates tables, chairs, bookcases, desks and storage cases possessing a distinctly 'live' quality about them.

Sometimes it’s in the stance. The BiPed Table appears animated and birdlike, ready to engage in a conversation. Other times the living quality is expressed through the rhythm of the wood grain and the curve of the piece, as in his speaker stands. Through the slight curve and wood grain, the stands appear graceful and remind one of the lilt and curve of tulip stems.

Tiger maple, Australian lacewood, cherry, ebony, red oak, ash, black walnut, mahogany and maple; the life force of these hardwoods is embodied in every Blaney-designed and built piece.

“It's about gesture; it's about things that really have some energy that is about, or is suggestive of, movement for me,” Blaney said. “I use a lot of shapes suggestive of human forms. I think that somewhere everything I do is linked to that.”

Each Blaney creation begins as an exploratory drawing. The more complex or intriguing ones become scaled models to study the potential design three dimensionally. Blaney has three models ready to become full-sized furniture. A few pieces, the Cirrus 2 and the Townsend Coffee tables, were realized while working on commissions.

The idea for one of Blaney's early designs, the Wedge Table, occurred in 2007 while attending a program led by Roseanne Somerson at Haystack (Mountain School of Crafts). Somerson was, at the time, the director of the Rhode Island School of Design's Department of Furniture Design.

“It was a real turning point for me. The Wedge was my attempt at stripping things down, of simplifying an idea to its most honest expression,” Blaney said. “Extreme angles and exposed joinery create energy. Its about the relationship between the angles. I like the stance.”

In 2008, he began focusing on furniture – not kitchen cabinets – and for the last several years he is exclusively furniture.

“One of the most satisfying things for me is that I use so much of myself in this occupation,” Blaney said. “Especially as one who is self-employed. From designing and building both the artistic and mathematical parts of my mind get exercised along with my body. I have at least a couple things going on. I have the angular rectilinear, spartan simplicity of the wedge and biped. And I have the gently sweeping curves and organic feel of the Townsend table. What's exciting is learning how these seemingly divergent styles can be integrated."

Blaney also works with veneers and different combinations of woods in his designs. He will pair a dark with a light wood, a solid with a veneer, or a solid with a veneer of tiger maple or Australian lacewood. He likes to expose tenons, the joint that fits into a mortise.

Blaney has recently given himself permission to throw in a few curves. An example: the Cormorant Table with its top of ebonized (generic term for blackening) maple, that still allows the grain of the wood to show through adding a feathery texture.

“There can be new combinations of things that may not have been done before. It's a creative exercise,” Blaney said. “That's the one most important thing for me.”

Examples of his creative exercising have been selected for inclusion in the 38thAnnual Philadelphia Museum Art Craft Show this November. Blaney applied for the Philadelphia Museum Art Craft Show two years back. This year, he was selected. To apply for inclusion in this prestigious show, Blaney had to submit images of five pieces. He will bring those five tables to the show in November: the Cormorant, Cirrus II (awarded 'Best in Furniture' at the Rockport Furniture Show this year), the Wedge, BiPed (a new piece “on the Wedge side of things”) and Townsend Coffee Table.

Blaney had furniture In two other shows this spring: The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship's display at "Wanted Design" in Chelsea, part of New York's design week and CraftBoston, A Show of Contemporary Art, Craft and Design.

All of the pieces in the show are on display, and for sale, at (Keith) Rendall Fine Art Gallery on Main Street in Wiscasset. Blaney has shown his work there since last August of 2013.

Until November he will be quite busy completing scheduled commission work and building speculative pieces for the November show and the Rendall gallery. Pieces that sell at the gallery will have to be recreated for the show.

“What drives me now is the desire to continue to find and refine my voice. I've begun to develop my visual vocabulary over time by doing things certain ways, but I've still got a lot of exploring to do,” Blaney said. “I try to give myself permission, when I'm on my own time, to do something wildly different should it strike me.”

Eben Blaney Fine Contemporary Furniture is located at 96 Eddy Road in Edgecomb.

For more information or to view Blaney's work, visit www.ebenblaney.com and www.facebook.com/EbenBlaneyFurniture

Contact him directly at 207-882-4208 and eben@ebenblaney.com.