Glider rocking chair made of anodized aluminum and fabric, created by furniture maker and jewelry artist Peter Handler. Most of Handler’s furniture is made of aluminum, which is either anodized or powdercoated.	1971 … Sitting on a hard, wooden bench, Peter Handler spreads his eggbeater drill, hammer, saw and other jeweler’s tools across the table. Carefully incorporating natural materials and organic elements, Handler relies on precision and patience; looping, bending, connecting, and hinging in order to construct that perfect piece. He picks up his miniature oxy-acetylene torch, with a flame the size of a needlepoint, and puts the finishing detail touches on his pieces. Diamond-shaped skylights hang over Handler’s bench. The yurt (a 1970’s adaptation of a round Mongolian nomadic house) is located on a commune in Hubbard Hill, 20 miles from Ithaca, N.Y., and half a mile up a dirt road. With the absence of electricity, a record player, running off a car battery, faintly plays in the distance as an oil lamp burns a few feet away. … eter Handler has come a long way since those early days of honing his jewelry-making talent at the commune. Today, he’s mastered the art of furniture making and owns his own studio in Philadelphia, Pa. Handler sits on one of his chairs.	“Antler,” an example of Handler’s jewelry from early in his career, made with 14K gold and sterling silver. Until 1981, when Handler made his first furniture piece, he worked primarily as a jewelry artist.

“Jester” side table, made of anodized aluminum with a curly maple top.

Humble beginnings

Handler graduated from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, with a political science degree and earned $10 a day “shop-sitting” at a jewelry store, where his interest in jewelry was sparked. With the money he made at the shop, he went to Woodstock in the summer of ’69.

After Woodstock, Handler returned to his parents’ home in New Jersey, set up a bench in their attic and started making his own basic, silver-wired jewelry. Thinking back to his amateur days as a jeweler, Handler blushes at his inexperience. “… I didn’t know that I was making bad jewelry, but neither did the people that I was selling it to,” he comments.

Inexpensive gold was selling for $35 an ounce and silver for $2 an ounce, enabling Handler to make many wedding rings, necklaces and so on, slowly learning the tricks of the trade. The simple hand tools didn’t cost much, and his workbench was a typical handmade jeweler’s bench.

It was two years after first experimenting with jewelry that Handler escaped to the commune in Hubbard Hill. In semi-isolation, Handler’s real learning experience began. “This is where I had time to learn my craft,” he says. “I went through a variety of styles with four or five different bodies of work.”

“Caruso,” another chair by Handler, made of aluminum and fabric.

Finding his muse

Handler soon realized, however, that there was only so much he could learn on his own. He left the commune for eight weeks in 1975 to attend Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. Three years later, he applied to the School for American Crafts at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

Having professors and teachers was new for Handler, there was so much more to learn. “I struggled to find expression for ideas I was trying to put out; this was the most frustrating thing for me,” he says. Soon, Handler would accidentally stumble upon the answer to his frustrations … aluminum. Working with this new material, he felt he’d finally found a home for his creativity.

A new career

After getting his master’s degree from RIT in 1981, Handler began experimenting with aluminum, creating jewelry, boxes, jars and even coffee tables. He gradually began focusing on larger-scale work, and moved to Philadelphia in 1982 to begin building his furniture business.

The furniture studio, which is by appointment only, is his primary source of income. Most of his orders come from craft and furniture shows. “My work is high-end, the business comes in big pieces and the cash flow is very erratic,” claims Handler. Summer is the least profitable season, so Handler makes sure he has enough commissions to support himself for six months to a year. “You need an ability to withstand financial ups and downs without being
overwhelmed or undergoing depression,” says Handler.

Since his furniture is high-end, Handler doesn’t like selling to galleries because, for him, it is hard to deal with the either low or high of wholesale price ranges. “I don’t price my furniture that way. I can’t take a $5,000 coffee table and cut it in half because my margins aren’t high enough,” says Handler.
Handler works approximately eight hours a day, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. His only hired help is Jonathan Geiger, a graduate of Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. “Peter enables me to see how it would be to have my own shop someday. He is a very creative and resourceful individual driven to see visions become real. He’s very rare in that he is determined and doesn’t allow any obstacles to discourage him,” says Geiger.

When he’s not at the studio, Handler enjoys spending time with his 12-year-old daughter, Gabrielle.

Another example of Handler’s jewelry: “Tea Ball,” made of 14K gold and sterling silver, mastodon ivory, with a handmade chain.

Developing a community

Handler says he is proud to be one of the founding members of the Furniture Society, which was founded in 1996 to advance and support the studio furniture movement. “I think that one of the most rewarding elements of being a member is helping to build a community,” he says.

Handler also develops relationships with his clients, striving to fulfill their needs. A lot of the work he sells is a fusion between his clients’ ideas and his own, he says. “If I meet somebody and they are interested in my furniture, I’ll make house calls where I look and listen. I need to find out who they are. Furniture is about meaning and who a client is. I absorb the sense of style they have and make pieces that are congruent with that style. I design for the client.” Handler’s furniture pieces represent more to him than inanimate objects, they echo his customers’ needs and fulfill their fantasy worlds.

For More Information Peter Handler (215) 225-0770 www.handlerstudio.com

Does Handler have a favorite personal piece? “My favorite piece is the piece I’m going to make next,” he replies.