An Odyssey Through Furniture, Lighting and Objects

Charles de Lisle makes furniture, lighting and objects. The things Charles makes are a curious and bold mixture of materials. Utilizing wood, bronze, plaster, metal, textiles, and clay, he alters and combines various mediums to create familiar objects embedded with texture, precision, and imbued character. By merging contradictory materials and unlikely surfaces, Charles produces things to enjoy and use.

Part imagination, part romantic daydreaming, and part mechanical process, Charles is excited by “paradoxes and contradictions; relationships with story threads that tie it all together.” His interests are manifested in designs that reflect his ability to combine the rough with the refined, the hand-hewn with machine-made, and the everyday with the spectacular. Structured and functional but with somehow a hidden undercurrent of exuberance.

The circumstances of Charles de Lisle’s childhood help explain his creative tendencies. Charles grew up in rural Massachusetts; he spent time exploring factories near his father’s woodworking shop where he collected scraps, bits of industrial products, images, and thoughts. After studying ceramics, Charles moved to California, where he learned how to weld and began fabricating lighting fixtures.

Charles started his own office in 2008; a design collective focused on custom fabricated furniture, lighting, decorative arts, interior projects, and landscape projects.