Brian Benham is a mixed media artist working in wood, metals, glass, and stone from his Colorado Studio.
He is inspired by the challenge of marring these materials together to create art. He hates the mundane and strives to make his work unique and thought-provoking while maintaining a sense of elegance in each piece.
He got his start in woodworking in the neighborhood he grew up in. On the corner was Jeff, a custom cabinet maker. Next door was Mark, who built beautiful clocks and anything else he could think of, and of course, his father, a bridge builder and carpenter. At an early age, Brian got a taste of woodworking and learned by watching them work in their craft.
It didn’t take long for him to get hooked on making things. As a kid, he could care less about watching Saturday morning cartoons, but he rarely missed an episode of This Old House, Norm Abram in The New Yankee Workshop, and Roy Underhill of The Woodwright’s Shop. He watched and learned, soaking up their knowledge like a sponge.
At age 13, he got a summer job in a fabrication shop for Hamilton Construction. His hard work ethic earned him the respect of the old grizzled welders who took the time to teach him to read plans, layout a project, and the skills needed to build almost anything from steel to wood. Brian worked there most summers between school years and full-time after graduating.
He moved on to cut his teeth in sales, selling a variety of building materials and specializing in floorcoverings. With his construction background and new sales skills, he moved into project management for a remodeling company. For the better part of a decade, he designed and managed a variety of remodeling and new construction projects, from residential to commercial spaces. In 2008 the housing crisis began, and it wasn’t long before the construction company he worked for filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The owner was simply too far overextended to weather the financial storm.
Over those past years, Brian never lost his passion for building things, and you would often find him in his shop working into the late evening hours and on weekends bringing to life his latest design. That passion and love for the craft propelled him into starting his own furniture business. By 2010 he had taken his passion for design and building custom furniture and turned it into a full-time business.
Since then, he has worked with some of the top interior designers in Colorado, collaborating on furniture designs for their spaces. Through working with such high-end clients, he has had the opportunity to meet other master craftspeople, exchanging knowledge and techniques to continue the journey of mastering the craft of designing and building furniture.
He continues to push his skill into working with new techniques, materials, and more complicated designs today. Some call him a master craftsman, but the journey toward mastering a craft never ends for Brian. There is always more to learn and more things to dream up and build.
