Modern Handcrafted Stair

The stair is for access to a sleeping loft in a small, multi-purpose, rustic, but refined barn. A delightful inspirational image was provided by the client of a hand-crafted spiral stair by an early-to-mid-century modernist furniture maker named Wharton Esherick, from Pennsylvania. 

The builder, or craftsman I should say, was Nate Holyoke, a builder with whom we have a history of collaboration and trust. Nate has a crew of gifted craftsmen who feed on the funky and unusual.  This design is the outcome of searching for the right compositional fit to this space where a stereotypical spiral stair assembly with a vertical center post didn’t feel right. Instead, the space felt like it wanted a horizontal composition, fit, and flow. From that decision evolved the stacked assembly of horizontal parts. Spinal analogies are fitting, with the stair made of organically formed vertebral parts, morphing as they ascended, building on a center, twisting spine.