Crafting a Career: The Exquisite Woodwork of Darryl Patterson
Woodworker Darryl Patterson makes his debut this week a featured artisan at the Smithsonian's CRAFT: Fashion + Home show.
“I always tell people, this was a happy accident,” says Darryl Patterson. “I had no intention of having this business. None.”
The co-owner of Asé Design Studios is known as a skilled woodworker of exquisite, refined, museum-caliber sculptural pieces for the home. Yet neither that studio nor its affiliated retail shop Lottie’s Place are products of a lifelong dream fulfilled. Patterson, a longtime employee at the Food and Drug Administration, never even fancied the idea of becoming a craftsmaker.
For the most part, Patterson just considers himself lucky to be alive.
“Would I have the business that I have today if it wasn’t for that one little accident? The answer is no.” By “little accident,” Patterson is referring to what happened over 20 years ago, when he lived on Capitol Hill. One weekday morning, after dropping by his favorite café for his daily coffee, a bus swerved to dodge a tree branch blocking part of its route, nipping Patterson in the process.
“I was hit by the bus getting into my car,” he says. “I fractured my hip, and I lost my left index finger in the accident. And the doctor at G.W. Hospital suggested that I do something with my hand to keep it from atrophying. So I took up woodworking, making cutting boards as therapy.”
The therapy worked exceptionally well. So much so, he reports that “today, the [left hand] is my strongest hand. I’m right-hand dominant, but I do everything with my left hand when it comes to woodworking.”
The years went on and woodworking became more than just a therapeutic hobby. As appreciative recipients of his handmade tabletop crafts at Christmastime and birthdays, close friends and family members — most notably his mother — helped inspire Patterson to keep honing his craft. “Before she passed away in 2010,” he says, “she said, ‘You know, it’s probably time for you to really indulge yourself in the arts.'”
Up until that point, both of his parents had dissuaded Patterson from following in their footsteps, with his mother professionally engaged as a singer and his father a studio musician for Motown. “I am the oldest son, so I was not allowed to do anything [in] art. I had to go to school for, you know, a focus on academics, to set an example for my younger brothers.” That’s why he pursued a career at the FDA, starting as a consumer safety technician, and eventually becoming the director of compliance and conflict prevention he is today.
“But she always knew that I wanted to sort of extend myself or express myself in art,” he says of his mother, who was the first person he came out to. “I told my mother on my 13th birthday, I will never forget it. She got me this book called Boys and Sex… and it had this multisyllabic word in there: homosexual. And I said, ‘That’s me. I’m a homosexual.'”
His mother was raised a Southern Baptist in the South, but “she was very much ahead of her time. She never allowed folks to call me a ‘sissy’ or ‘faggot,’ she never allowed any of those disparaging terms to be waged against me. So out of that, I felt an obligation to always hold her honor.”
Nearly 10 years ago, in addition to establishing D. Patterson Design Studio for custom, made-to-order woodworking, he began selling various handmade giftware pieces through a site he named Lottie’s Place in honor of his mother. Two years ago, he moved to Baltimore and met fellow artisan Lawrence Moore. The two decided to go into business and formed Asé Design Studio. “We do tabletop [work] for specialized, custom, and limited-edition home furniture and furnishings,” Patterson says. The company’s retail offshoot, Lottie’s Place, is now a brick-and-mortar store, occupying the front half of Patterson’s apartment.
Over the years, Patterson has become a champion of the crafts field and makers, including serving as a board member of the American Craft Council. This year, he will make his debut as a featured maker at CRAFT: Fashion+Home, a reimagining of the annual fall show formerly known as Craft2Wear and presented by the Smithsonian Women’s Committee.
CRAFT expands that fall event celebrating the finest in American contemporary craft and design. Rather than an exclusive focus on wearable craft, from jewelry to clothing, this year’s show also feature accessories for the home, including ceramics, glass, rugs, silver and dinner ware, and woodworking. All the featured artwork and crafts will be for sale, with proceeds supporting education, outreach, and research projects at the Smithsonian.
Patterson’s goal in becoming a public advocate for the field is to “really change the narrative on craft, [providing] a fresh perspective on what craft really means in the U.S. and beyond.” CRAFT attendees, he says, “[will be] very surprised at the quality of the craftsmanship.”
CRAFT: Fashion + Home kicks off with an Advance Chance Opening Party, including cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, on Thursday, Oct. 5, from 6 to 9 p.m., and continues Friday, Oct. 6, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 7, from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, Oct. 8, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. At the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. Daily admission is $20, while the Opening Party costs $125. Visit www.SmithsonianCraft2Wear.org.
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