mike deemedio

Mike DeEmedio is a maker of fine furniture and educator living and working in Santa Fe, NM. Mike has been formally trained and has received certification in fine woodworking from a top furniture and cabinetmaking program in Southern California (2019, Palomar College, San Marcos, CA). He has been working to create custom pieces for clients in the southwest ever since. In addition to his eight years of formal training, Mike has studied both chairmaking and carving with some of the top names in those more specialized disciplines. His training includes a focus in chairs, case pieces with doors and drawers, wood finishing, carving, and wood turning. As has been said, “if you can make chairs, you can make anything.” Mike took this notion to heart and spent many years steeped in chairmaking; ladderback chairs, Windsor chairs, office chairs, arm chairs, rocking chairs, stools, etc. while continuing to produce more rectilinear shapes, like tables, case pieces, desks, and doors. Mike has worked for private clients and design firms alike.

In addition to working to create custom pieces for clients, Mike focuses a considerable amount of his energy to educating new woodworkers of all ages. Through individual classes at his home shop as well as group classes at the Santa Fe Community College, Mike passes on his knowledge in chairmaking and box making to enthusiastic students year-round.

Mike’s approach: A lot of makers in the 21st c. rely heavily, if not entirely, on power tools to make their work faster but in most cases less unique or remarkable. Others may feel a strong nostalgia for the work before industrialization and prefer to work using hand tools only. Mike feels all approaches are valid, but chooses a hybrid approach in his work where both machines and hand tools are used on every piece he creates. Using this approach, most material is broken down and milled using modern high-end, industry-standard tools which reduces time and cost. Once the parts are to dimension, all joinery is cut and surfaces prepared using hand tools (hand planes, scrapers, hand saws, chisels, etc.) This allows for modern, artisan pieces to be produced efficiently with a handmade touch often reserved for fine antiques.

Mike: “I enjoy working with clients directly to bring a vision to life. I work hard to understand the needs of the customer and prefer to visit the space where the piece will live before the design/build process. It helps to better understand the needs of the customer and ultimately create a better, more functional piece that fits seamlessly into its space both functionally and aesthetically. I also do all I can to make sure that nothing attached to my name ever fails – at least in my, or my kids’ lifetime.  This doesn’t mean overbuilding, it means efficient design and execution.  Do it by hand, do it right, and do it fast.”

Design Process: “I design using proportioned drawings done by hand. I believe the process of drawing by hand immerses me in the details of a piece prior to making any cuts. I view this as an overall benefit more valuable than any time that might be saved using a digital drawing.”