Thomas Diel

As to the creative process I am a bottom-up designer, meaning I let the material define the design and find beauty in well executed craft. My style is loosely based on stylings of The Machine Age meets a subdued dystopian architecture only on a smaller scale encompassing functional art. Concept develop of my work entails many hand sketches followed with 2D computer drawings refined into 3D CAD modeling solutions that are refined to one concept that I finalize to the point of creating a video fly around totally informing the client as the intent of scope of any large project.

I am a full-time designer / fabricator or if you prefer maker / artist. I work with most all materials and have extensive work history in metals, woodworking, and concrete from design through installation. While obtaining a degree in Industrial Design and working summers for a concrete contractor set the foundation for experimenting with materials. During the final year of a five-year program, I decided to make a couple of pieces of furniture outside of the standard curriculum with a concerted effort to intermix mediums. Yearning to master a myriad of materials lead me to as many cities as materials; woodworking in Atlanta, fabrication in New Orleans w/ Thomas Mann in his sculpture department, and working as a project manager for two ornamental iron shops in Chicago. Final landing in Fort Worth for a ten-year stint as in-house designer for Charles Alan a local contract furniture manufacturing company fulfilled my 20-year education of materials and processes. From CAD (computer-aided design) to installation of a finished piece my smudge marks are all over the entire scope of a project.

Self-employment would not have been possible without my debut at Fort Worth’s Main Street Arts Festival in 2011 that garnered Best Emerging Artist and lead me to resign as Design Development Director from Charles Alan to where I belong, the world of one-off making. Main St Arts Festival over the last decade has provided numerous awards and including a Best In Show in 2013.

My studio is my shangri la and creating my mini edifices as I like to imagine them are my raison d’etre (reason for being). That being said, while my studio practice is quite fulfilling, as many artists I would like to have my work seen not just in private collections but also in the public realm