Diane Ross

Cowgirl Furniture Maker

by Thea Marx

With Diane Ross’s adept hands and keen sense of balance and design, old barns become charming cabinets and standing birch trees a bed gracing magazine pages worldwide. This extraordinary furniture maker is one of the few women in the business and she has established a niche with her elegant rustic furniture that doesn’t need a log home for comfort, it’s perfectly at ease in nearly every environment including ultra contemporary.

For thirty years, her intrepid spirit has wandered the West in search of inspiration and materials. Her experiences in the Southwest and on Montana ranches driving her practical, but creative process to pieces that always pay homage to her first, a bent willow chair. A furniture maker, she was sure she would never be growing up. Her father was a cabinet maker, but wouldn’t let her in the shop, she was a girl.

As a young, single mother she struck out to follow her dreams which meant studying Range Management and Soil Science at Montana State University in Bozeman. On the way, she found herself living in a tent in West Yellowstone, Montana with her two children waiting tables to pay the bills and save for college. Her need to be close to her children drove her to search for ways they could be together more than not. She turned down a coveted job with the BLM in favor of making a chair she saw on the cover of Mother Earth Magazine. The idea of making furniture meant they could be together gathering willows, searching the area for materials and creating collectively. One chair led to many and many led to a following. When the government registries where closed after graduation proclaiming no jobs were available, she didn’t even miss a beat, she kept on making furniture.

From a willow chair to elaborate cabinets is not easy for someone who has not been trained as a cabinet maker, but true to her spirit, she taught herself. “People would say ‘I like this. Can you do it?’” says Diane. “I would research it, figure it out and make it. That is how I learned.” Eventually her father came to help her in her shop in Willow Creek, Montana, acknowledging what she was doing was “real” woodworking and enjoyed his time with his daughter as she created influential pieces in the world of western furniture.

On the river bottom where Lewis and Clark camped and where bears, moose, elk and coyotes are prevalent, Diane creates pieces like the Cowgirl Cupboard: pretty on the outside, practical on the inside. The simple cabinet is hand rubbed with a red patina, carved willow designs and hand forged horse head draw pulls. She created this piece for herself when she was working cows everyday and rising at 4 am. She needed something that would hold everything she needed for the day in one place so she could roll out of bed, dress and still have time for coffee. The piece even has a place for her halter, chinks, hat and a grate to place her boots on. Then there are pieces with names like the Gypsy Queen goes to Cody. An exquisitely, edgy piece out of reclaimed oak, fused glass doors with interior lighting, glass shelves and secret velvet lined drawer.

Unique or deadly practical, this cowgirl furniture maker has a way of making the pieces strikingly beautiful, all the while evoking the natural and that universal yearning to have nature a part of one’s living spaces.

Diane is an artist on contemporarywesterndesign.com. She was invited to attend Women Who Design the West and was inducted into the Stetson Craftsman Alliance in September 2010.

Clair Kehrberg

Saddle Making in her Soul

With a love of horses and artwork in her soul and ranching a part of her family for generations, Clair Mullins made a decision in high school; she was going to be a saddle maker. Growing up on a family cattle operation near John Day, Oregon, saddles were second nature, in fact, horseback was her preferred mode of transport. The decision was easy.

After witnessing her father question her older brother about his ambitions and plans for the future, Clair knew she would have an answer when it was her turn. A part of the family operation in a place where the closest movie theatre was 70 miles away, her love of horses was nurtured and the very nature of her life allowed her imagination to fly free.

An inborn fondness for ranch life combined with her penchant for art helped lead her to the decision to be a saddle maker. She went through the two year program at Spokane Falls Community College where she studied under the late Verlane Desgrange who was an extraordinary leather carver and saddle maker. Under Verlane she learned to draw intricate flowing patterns. Then she worked with Randy Severe at Severe Brothers Saddlery in Pendleton who taught her to draw directly on the leather. “My work is individual, I never duplicate a pattern,” says Clair. Most importantly, she says, she studied with Dale Harwood where she learned good mechanics. “Mechanics make the saddle, and he is a master.”

Today, she has been creating saddles for 9 years and owned her own shop for the last 6. Everyday, she builds saddles for the working cowboy. They are for hard days on colts and working cows in the vastness of Grant County, Oregon. On Quality Manufacturing trees, she creates her signature saddle with a slick fork tree and bucking rolls. She uses a lot of rough outs because as she says, “You stick to it better.” Her style reflects the influences from generations of ranching in the Great Basin and the Old Buckaroo including the small Cheyenne roll and the mule hide wrapped horn.

Working saddles don’t allow her to use her incredible carving skills or love of fashionable things as much as she would like so she makes gorgeous, deeply carved stylish handbags, messenger bags and furniture that allow her to integrate the flowing lines and the sleek curvy styling that is apparent but not overt in her saddles.

As of late, she has earned the nickname, "Lunatic Fringe" for the use of her brightly colored fringe on everything!! She has also been inducted into the Stetson Craftsman's Alliance and was selected for Women Who Design the West.

See her work here on ContemporaryWesternDesign.com or learn more about Clair at www.clairsaddleshop.com or call her to get your own saddle or “haute” handbag 541-620-1634.

Bob Brown Treemendous Designs

Bob Brown’s Pieces fit into Rustic Décor, Cowboy Décor or any home that has a hint of Western Design or wants one.

Near a small Indiana town where the rivers Eel and Wabash meet, is a man who auctioned off his construction equipment to become a furniture maker.

On land that’s been in his family for more than 20 years, and where arrowheads and other remnants of the Miami Indians are found, Bob Brown harvests and mills his own beautiful hardwood. He’s known around Cass County for his work and is frequently called when nuisance trees are felled so he can recover the lumber. A self-proclaimed scavenger of beautiful wood, Bob finds wood where tree trimmers work and utility companies clear branches to keep lines open.

Bob has a unique take on furniture made from hardwoods. He says, he doesn’t want it to be too perfect, but to reflect its natural beauty. Most furniture made of hardwood is planed, sanded and polished to perfection.

“To me that’s institutionalized, I like to see its natural expression, the beauty of the sapwood and its rough edges.”

Where does his inspiration come from? “ Montana. I love Montana,” he says.

Five boys later, he’s still in Indiana, but hoping the family can find their way out West someday. He and his wife Julie, a fourth grade teacher, both enjoy the outdoors and spend their free time camping, hiking and working on their property.

Bob’s grandfather clocks, dining room tables and beds are seen in homes from the Midwest to New England. Some of his most specialized pieces are found in beautiful resort homes in Colorado. To see more of Bob’s work go to ContemporaryWesternDesign.com.