Upon entering American Craftsman's 60th street gallery, I was immediately met by a six-foot-tall giraffe made out of what looked to be old car parts. This was only a taste of the wonderfully eclectic pieces that I would find inside. While there was a glass kaleidoscopes that looked like spyglasses from a steampunk good ship lollipop also greeted me towards the front, I found a giant chessboard occupying the floor in the back. The sculptor Phillippe Guillerm's violin-woman sculptures were hidden throughout the store and a giant wine chest made of purple heart wood with a swirling lion's mane design guarded one wall. On the subject of wine, I was drawn to the special dispensers on display by Jeff Henderson of Funky Rocks. A quirky take on the traditional water cooler, the dispensers featured upside-down bottles of wine in smooth slabs of granite with convenient stone taps.
I was particularly drawn to an old gnarled stump that turned out to be a hidden set of drawers. I later discovered that it was built by the owner and founder of American Craftsmen, Richard Rothbard, as were many wooden treasure boxes in the shape of instruments, animals, and hearts. Richard has a fascinating story: He studied at Hofstra at the same time as the likes of Madeline Kahn and Francis Ford Coppola and planned on being an actor. He struck gold when he was cast in the Fantasticks, now the world's longest-running musical. He discovered his true passion for art at age twenty-seven when he saw a dining table built by the Japanese woodworker, George Nakashima. He discovered how the piece utilized the natural shape of the wood becoming a work of art as well as a table. Richard was hooked and eager to learn more. In 1967, he opened his first store on the Upper East Side, called Impressions in Wood, where he sold one-of-a-kind furniture. Ten years later, he began creating his signature boxes.