John Leko
Huntsville carpenter John Leko will recreate an 18th-century French table using funds he raised from Kickstarter. (Eric Schultz | Huntsville Times)
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – John Leko's love of carpentry started more than a decade ago when he and his wife bought a condo and decided to do some remodeling at their new home.
"No matter who we hired, we were unsatisfied," Leko said. "Finally, we gave up, and decided to do it ourselves. When it came time to furnish each room, we couldn't find anything that interested us. So, we decided to take that on ourselves, too."
Passionate about the craft, Leko, a trained scientist and former defense contractor, opened a custom furniture business in downtown Huntsville six years ago. J. Leko Furniture Maker, LLC. operates in a studio at a lumber yard on Cleveland Avenue. Between furniture projects, Leko attends the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Franklin, Ind., the largest woodworking school in north America.
It was only two years ago that Leko received an email with a link to a YouTube video of an authentic 18th-century French mechanical table. The piece was designed by J-F Oeben, a German woodworker who built furniture for the aristocracy, including King Louis XV, and was given the title "cabinetmaker to the king" during his career.
Leko's wife, Mayra Martinez, who owns a professional photography studio in Huntsville, said her husband's eyes lit up as he watched the video again and again, trying to understand the innerworkings of the 1750 French masterpiece. Last summer, Leko visited the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles to view and photograph the original, 260-year-old Oeben table.
"Being trained as a scientist, I'm always focusing on what's new and on the forefront, while being cognizant of what's happened before," Leko said Thursday as he scrolled through photos of the French table on his iPad. "That's part of the whole process – knowing how things develop and where they've come from and being able to look at something and knowing the heritage behind the piece."
For his Michael Fortune Fellowship, Leko decided to recreate the table, but the cost of the project was steep. Facing a minimum of $6,000 for materials, Leko turned to Kickstarter, the world's largest funding source for creative projects.
John Leko works in his studio on Cleveland Avenue in downtown Huntsville. (Eric Schultz | Huntsville Times)
Leko said Kickstarter is a "crowd-funding" resource that allows entrepreneurs to seek funds for projects from everyday people instead of relying on a bank for a loan or other capital. Kickstarter runs on an "all or nothing" principle, meaning a project will not receive funds if the fundraising goal fails.
Leko's Kickstarter campaign launched in mid February, and within a month, the Huntsville carpenter exceeded his $6,000 fundraising goal by $2,000. Friends, family and colleagues spread the word through social media, but it wasn't until Christopher Schwarz, long-time editor and now contributing editor to Popular Woodworking magazine, discussed the project on his blog that the campaign really took off, Martinez said.
"We had 24 donations within 10 hours," she said.
The $8,000 in donations will help Leko purchase a quarter- and rift-sawn poplar, north American red oak, veneer, materials for a French polish finish and other resources to make the table operational. The donations do not cover research, travel expenses, tools or time spent constructing the piece.
Since exceeding his Kickstarter goal, Leko has refined his drawings and is collaborating with a Pennsylvania clockmaker. Leko, who is also in talks with the Huntsville Museum of Art about exhibiting the table, has submitted a proposal to the Alabama arts council to assist with additional project expenses.
Allison Dillon-Jauken, executive director of The Arts Council in Huntsville, said Leko has been a member of her organization's arts assembly for several years, and although "he comes from a science background, he is at his heart an artist."
"This is a very ambitious project, but if you know J well, you wouldn't expect anything less," she said. "He's building his own tools so he can do this project in the manner the 18th century craftsmen did. That's a level of attention to detail that's just not found on every street corner."
Huntsville carpenter John Leko exceeded his Kickstarter goal by $2,000. (Eric Schultz | Huntsville Times)
Despite some opposition from museum curators and instructors about the difficulty of the project, Leko has gained support from the woodworking community and will present his completed work to a panel of industry experts next year.
"J will never walk away from a challenge – end of story," Martinez said. "Most people in this day and age have gotten so used to remodeling and changing their home décor every two years, but what they don't realize is they're not buying quality furniture. ...What J and I are trying to do is show people that just because this may be an older piece, it does not mean it's not better."
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