Space 1,200 | Rent $1,395
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Hogan, the director of public affairs for the Art Institute, is happiest in a spare, almost monastic environment. But Northcutt, a sculptor and woodworker who teaches at SAIC and makes furniture under the name Onesixtyfourth Design, finds inspiration in stuff. A lifelong scavenger, he admits he has a problem. “I’ll find one thing that I think is kind of neat and then I’ll feel obliged to finish out the set,” he says. He has a particular fondness for old tools, and he’s made art and furnishings out of many of his finds: 40 or so vintage plumb bobs hang from an Amish cane over the couple’s bed, a kitchen corner shelf is mounted on an iron wrench, a spice rack is made from segments of a 12-foot maple ruler and some yardsticks.
Sometimes items will languish for months in his studio before he finds a use for them. A coffee table he made from an eight-foot-long toboggan picked up in 2005 at the Kane County Flea Market was inspired by necessity. “We were having a Super Bowl party, and we said, ‘Oh my God, 20 people are coming over and we don’t have any place for them to put their drinks,’” says Hogan. Northcutt put it together in a day, sanding and waxing the surface and fabricating legs from bits of an old hardwood futon frame and a bookshelf.
