Tim Bohm:  Furniture Designer

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We first met Tim and his wife, Tammy, at an outdoor art show.  He wasn’t hard to notice since his work is stop in your tracks. Good.  He could be described as an urban modern artist, but we’re not sure if that really explains what he does.  He takes out-of-use parts from cars, boats, planes – really any type of former transportation, and designs these functional sculptures that are thoughtful and innovative.  The result is a product that is as much art as it is furniture. 

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The first piece we asked him to design was a table made from an old, airplane crankshaft.  The piece he produced, wasn’t just a table, it was a perfectly engineered table, set cantilever to the base, with impeccably welded seams, and finished off with tempered glass.  He explained that the table could be flipped so the top and the bottom are reversible.  What?  And just like that… we were hooked. 

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The next project started with a metal base that we found in Chicago and an old gear.  He added a few more gears, applied a special finish, and then used a piece of Lexan for the top (Lexan is the shatterproof plexiglass used on race cars).  While he was explaining the components of this table, it occurred to us, that Tim isn’t just assembling pieces – like a collage, he’s playing with the concept of movement, balance and torque.  And this is precisely what makes his work so dynamic.

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After that, he constructed a floor lamp from a vintage, wooden, airboat propeller, which was set on a 15-degree angle.  He added three lamp cages to the front, a dimmer switch, and then embedded a Bluetooth speaker in the back.  The base was made from a discarded boat engine and a few spark plugs.  For transportation purposes, the propeller can be removed from the base.  The lamp is artistically assembled, and the craftsmanship is sublime.

 

The last piece is a table lamp that thinks it’s a race car.  Everything about it says high performance… from its shiny red and silver exterior to its unexpected “shade”.  It was made with a racing distributor, spark plugs, transmission parts and an air cleaner.  When he added a little bling and a dimmer switch, we could’ve sworn it said, “Vroom, vroom”!