Hayward Zwerling’s Creations
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I Need or Want an Object
I began making things because I needed specific objects: a desk for my office, a small coffee table for my living room, and additional kitchen storage that my wife needed. Once I identify a need, I try to design something that is both functional and visually engaging.
An Idea Needs to be “Physicalized”
Sometimes I’m haunted by an idea that I can only expunge from my mind by bringing it into physical reality. For example, after seeing a Picasso sculpture exhibit at MoMA, I was struck by how he reduced objects to their essence. This inspired me to create a sculpture that captured the “essence” of a giraffe, which led to George the Giraffe & Big Poppy, and later to Elly the Elephant—now both installed on the Somerville Community Path.
Another idea involved designing a chest of drawers with seemingly random sizes and arrangements. Although I ultimately created a more symmetrical rosewood version, the experiment helped me think differently about furniture form.
My picture frames were (mostly) designed to challenge the traditional dogma that a frame’s sole purpose is to enhance the painting it surrounds—fading into the background and never making an artistic statement of its own.
This concept is directly expressed in my “Is it the Frame or Is it the Painting” frame which places part of the frame (brass) in front of the painting.
A Piece of Wood has Commanded Me to Make…
Sometimes a piece of wood tells me what to do.
The curved walnut branches had no obvious use, but deserved to be saved, so I built a two-sided, rocking-horse-like frame for my wife’s painting of our son.
A highly figured, yet warped piece of black locust also had no obvious use—but was too beautiful to discard, so I designed a chair for it.
My Goals: Engage the Viewer
My aim is to create objects that engage the viewer—intellectually, emotionally, or both.
The Tensegrity Rocking Side-table invites the viewer to consider: “How does the top stay up?”
My interactive sculptures Elly the Elephant, and George the Giraffe & Big Poppy are designed to elicit a smile when someone wiggles the animals’ ears.
My skewed frame is intended to force the viewer to consider “Should the painting/frame be hung on the wall so the frame or the contained painting is aligned with the ground?”
My one-inch thick “box on a wall” is intended to transiently mislead the viewer into thinking they are looking at a three-dimensional object.
Finally, my coasters, cutting board, and platter arose from an attempt to create objects that looked as if they were composed from randomly sized and arranged pieces of wood and cause the viewer to ask: “How did he build that?”
Creating Must be Fun, Not Tedious
For me, the joy of woodworking lies in imagining a design and quickly turning that idea into a prototype. I use whatever tools that enable me to create the object expeditiously.
I’m not a perfectionist; I have no interest in flawless dovetails. Professional woodworkers will rightly scoff at my construction methods—but I view all my works as prototypes. They are ideas made real, and they will contain imperfections.
If one of my pieces engages you, then I’ve succeeded.
Hayward Zwerling, May 2025