Around 2004, Couch left his home in Georgia heading for the 'Frisco bay, which I understand is San Francisco. (As a matter of fact, I missed an SFO connection once and was graciously hosted at his brother's dinner, his favorite coffee house, a bayside tour, and his home.) Georgia Tech for Couch was industrial design, so San Francisco was a venue to test the waters and build a portfolio. Having tested those waters, Couch came back.
Now, Couch is testing new waters in Washington DC. As another matter of fact, he's making a few waves this time. Couch's work has been featured in the Express, the Washington Post's free daily that every living soul reads on the metro in the morning. In the pictures below, his chair and table were selected as the #1 style pick, and also, they called his District Table an irreverent approach to home furnishings, which I guess is good.
I love the way Couch has been designing furniture. For one, he's been poor. You've got to start there as a dreamer/artist. So how can you create and experiment with no money and no equipment? On top of that, could you even add in some time to invest in community and give to others? Yes. As Artist-in-Residence, Couch has been working with inner city youth at Off The Block Artisans Program where he teaches woodworking skills as well as job-related and life skills. In his free time, he can use all of the woodworking machines to do fancy designer things like above. He gets paid a little, he gets design time a lot, and he gets to give a lot. That's about as good as it gets, or at least until the next door opens for his creativity. Right now, that door looks like it may be Barninger & Couch. I've met Barninger, he's wonderful, and so I think this might go well.
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