Thomas Diel

As to the creative process I am a bottom-up designer where in many instances I let the material and it’s inherited processes 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 of Lebbeus Woods only on a smaller scale. Concept develop of many hand sketches are followed with multiple 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 in a five-year program, I decided to make a couple 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 20yr 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.

My studio is my shangri la and creating my mini edifices as I like to imagine them are my raison d’etre.