What is Rustic?

In this episode, local rustic maker Larry Jenne talks about what rustic means to him, we chat with some kids about their experience in our temporary rustic exhibit Natural Beauty, and Joseph Bryere’s Clock Case gets an object spotlight. Whether you’ve been a rustic enthusiast for decades, or aren’t sure you know what the word rustic means, this episode of ADKX-tra Credit is sure to inspire you to get outside, get into nature, and start creating. Find more of Larry’s work at ADK Rustiques on Facebook and Instagram, or follow this link.

Transcript

Introductory Segment 

Have you ever heard the word “rustic” before? The Cambridge Dictionary defines “rustic” as “simple and often rough in appearance; typical of the countryside.” But when talking about furniture or decorations the word rustic traditionally means something made from natural resources, like sticks, twigs, logs, bark, and even fungi. Here in the Adirondacks, rustic is a popular furniture style and art form.

TRANSITION - ADKX Podcast Intro - Ready to earn some extra credit? You are listening to ADKX-tra Credit, a podcast for students about the history of the Adirondack Mountains and the people that have lived, worked, and played here. The Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, is located in the heart of the Adirondack Park of New York State. 

CONTENT

To get started on our rustic adventure, I’m here with local rustic maker Larry Jenne to learn a little more about this incredible tradition. Thank you so much for chatting with me today Larry!

You're welcome, it's a pleasure to be here.

Thank you. So my first question is, what is Rustic to you? Just tell me a little bit about what that means, what that tradition is.

You know, it's a passion for me. Rustic really- It's a one-of-a-kind, you know, handcrafted pieces of furniture, and I almost call them, like, artwork, because they really are, like, pieces of artwork. And to me, they're made, oftentimes asymmetrical pieces of wood. I mean, they're not always perfectly symmetrical, which is really what draws me to it. I think they also are used with raw materials that have very unique characteristics that make them, again, pleasing to the eye, to me, and maybe to others, too. They use twigs, we use live edge, we use mortis and tenon joints, lots of different joinery.

And for me, I'm a little unique. I like to repurpose materials in my work, so I repurpose materials, um, and create really unique, one-of-a-kind pieces. So, to me, Rustic Furniture is truly one-of-a-kind. Every piece is its own special piece.

And lastly, for me, the shape and the structure and the unique characteristics of the wood, for me, when I look at a piece of wood, that drives the creation of the piece of furniture. So when I look at a piece of wood, it's like, what does that piece of wood show me and tell me about what's that want to be? So, to me, that's what Rustic furniture is.

Yeah, awesome! That's super cool. My next question is, how do you become a Rustic maker? How did you find this art form?

And this… so, this question, I love this question because this lets me reflect way back. I'm old, so it lets me reflect way back to a very special moment that I'll never forget. It was 1992, so that's a long time ago, and for these students who are 3rd and 4th graders, they can… they can subtract that from 2026 and see how many years ago that is.  But I was a 4th grade teacher at that point, teaching 4th graders. I was also making Rustic furniture on the side a little bit, not much at that point. But I was also building a log cabin, and I found out about the Rustic Fair at the Blue Mountain Lake Museum.

And so I made the trip in September to that museum, and I walked into that fair, and it was like, wow. There is something really special about this furniture, and for me in my past, I had also, um, grew up in the woods, spent all my time in the woods as a kid, but I also graduated from Wanakena Ranger School in 1981, which, again, is way back even further. So, I have a love of the woods, I have a love of trees. So when I saw this furniture at the museum, and all the twigs, and to me, it was the… it was the twig mosaic furniture that I was really drawn to. Because it just… it was so intricate, and the small… so many small pieces that they put together to make this amazing piece of furniture, I was like, wow, I've got to start doing this stuff if I can. 

I left the museum that day in 1992, um, I went back home, um, and it's like, I gotta start trying to figure out if I can do this, so… I began by making, actually, rustic frames. I took birch bark, and put the bark around the frame, and then I twigged… I took, um, you know, small birch trees, and I split them in half, just like they did, and I would bark up the frames. And I sold those in the Adirondacks for many years. I had a pretty good business with that on the side. 

And then, like everybody else that makes furniture, your furniture evolves. Um, so I did that for a long time. But I also, um, there was a guy named Rick Pratt who still goes to the Rustic Fair who made willow furniture, who I was also intrigued by. So, I was like, I want to try that. So I tried that for a while, and made some willow furniture, and guess what? That's way too hard. How Rick has done that for the many years he's done that.

So I did that for a while. So I really dabbled in lots of different things to see what's going to be my passion, and what's going to be, you know, what I did. But really, it was going to that Rustic Fair in 1992 that really created my passion for Rustic furniture, and it's 30-some years later, and I have not stopped. And now that I'm retired, after 38 years in education, I'm now doing it full-time and loving it.

Yeah, that's awesome! Yeah, our Rustic Fair, first weekend of September every single year, and we'll talk a little bit more about that later on in the podcast, but that's so cool that that was your jumping-off point, that's awesome. My next question is, how do you get the materials that you use in your work?

And that's the other really fun thing for me because, again, I love being in the woods, um, and even way back, way back in the beginning when I started, anytime I was in the woods, I was always looking for those unique pieces of wood. And I grew up hunting and fishing and trapping with my family on this leased hunting club for many years, and I saw this burl on the side of the tree, this yellow birch tree that I walked by for a long, long time, from the time I was probably 8 years old to the time I was probably 45 years old, and I knew they were going to clear-cut this land, so guess what? That burl came home with me one day, and now I have that burl that goes to all my shows with me. It's my showpiece that sits in front of my booth. 

So how I gather my materials, I'm always walking in the woods looking for really unique pieces of wood. And I don't like to… I like to gather wood from the ground if I can, that's not been there too long. But I'll gather mushrooms, I'll gather pine cones, deer antlers if I find those, anything that I can incorporate into my wood. That's one way I gather stuff. The other way is I have people now in the community have been doing this long enough, they'll have trees that are cut down on their property, especially ash right now in my area. I have a lot of ash. They'll say, well, do you want some trees? So, I'll get wood that way. Or they'll have unique pieces. I had a guy bring this really cool, unique piece to me the other day. He's like, can you use this? Like, sure can.

So, my name is out there now, so people know that I'm looking for those type of things. So, that way. The local Amish in my area, um, in the wintertime, they cut my yellow birch for me that I use for my tables, so we have to cut that in the wintertime so the bark will stay on. So they cut that for me. So, love my local Amish. They're really good to work with. 

And then I have a couple local sawmills. I have one in Parrishville, um, the Votra Sawmill. He cuts live edge, which a lot of sawmills don't. He cuts live edge stuff, and he has some real unique stuff, but he doesn't kiln dried his wood. And then I have this other place, Moshier's Maple Ridge Farm in Copenhagen, New York, because I have to use some kiln-dried wood for my clocks and things. So he cuts all this really cool wood, but he keeps all these really cool, unique pieces for me, because he knows that's what I like. So I've made these connections with people all over that know what I'm looking for, and I have this really community of people now that I can draw on for my supplies, which is great. 

But then my last thing, which probably is another one of my favorites, is that because of my repurposing of materials, and my clocks that I make, I go to garage sales, I go to auctions, and then to bike shops, because I use old snowshoes, antique skis, toboggins, and my bike rims are repurposed that I make my unique clocks out of. that's my biggest seller. I made over 800 clocks in the last 5 years, um, using old bicycle rims that I love to repurpose. So, I just love repurposing things, and I love the old antique  things that people have. So, it's fun gathering materials. I think, the problem is I don't have enough storage space, so I now have two Amish sheds beside my garage, just to store materials.

Yeah, that sounds awesome. Yeah, I was very familiar with the idea of, you know, collecting natural resources. We're gonna talk a little more about that in the podcast, but I love that you were able to incorporate some found objects as well, some repurposed things. That's very cool. Alright, and my last question, is there anything else you want people to know about Rustic making that I didn't already ask you?

I think, you know, Rustic furniture has evolved a little bit over the years, for sure. You know, as I go to shows, and especially the Rustic Fair too, I mean. Rustic furniture has lots of different forms now. People are using metal with their Rustic furniture. I use a lot of metal in my furniture now. Epoxy is now part of Rustic furniture. Rustic furniture has many forms. I still like the traditional forms, you know, as an educator, I used to go to Racket Lake, to the Sagamore for conferences, and that place is just amazing, and you see the true Rustic forms there. So, it's still there, it's still out there, and I want to still be here, because that's really the true form of Rustic to me.

But it's evolving, just like everything else, and so I want people to realize that Rustic furniture is going to look differently, you know, in different places, and even here, it's starting to look differently. But on the other thing, as an educator of 38 years and a 4th grade teacher. I want young people to know that they need to get outside and really look for unique things in nature. And start exploring nature to find those unique things, and then, you know, pick things up off the ground and bring them inside, and try to create things with those, because that's how you start to really look at nature in a different way. Nature is very unique, and it's got so many unique things out there that you can really create some cool stuff with. So I encourage young people to do that. 

In my classroom, my classroom is called Camp ADK. We took yellow, um, white birch and created an entranceway that said Camp ADK, so my classroom was a… was a really a nature place, and I want kids to realize that nature, it's a very special place, so… Rustic Furniture is a great place to… for me to be now, and I want kids to really be able to enjoy that also, because I think sometimes in this world, we don't get outside enough.

Yeah, I think that's great advice. We all need to remember to spend more time in nature. Alright, well, thank you so much, Larry, for answering those questions. I know I learned a lot. I'm sure that our listeners also learned a lot.

Yeah, it's great. I'm so glad we got to chat. I love to talk about Rustic furniture and how I began. It's just, it's such a great, great passion for me.

You can find Larry’s work at ADK Rustiques on facebook and instagram, or follow the link in the description. Don’t forget to take a look at Larry’s 800th rustic clock, featured on the webpage of this podcast.

TRANSITION 

Wow! Rustic making is so cool! I love creating things with my hands, especially when it involves spending some time in nature. If you are listening to this podcast during the ADKX’s 2026 season you can come visit our rustic furniture exhibit Natural Beauty to get an in person look at some incredible rustic objects. Natural beauty is a temporary exhibit, so if you are listening to this after October of 2026, check out our website theadkx.org to see what we have in our changing exhibit gallery! And don’t worry, there's always something rustic on exhibit here at ADKX!

In case you don’t get a chance to visit Natural Beauty, I’m going to talk about some highlights of the exhibit with the help of some friends. 

You spent some time in Natural beauty. What was your favorite piece you saw?

I liked the John Rondeau rocking chair.

Why did you like it? Can you describe it?

I liked it being more for comfort than decoration, because nature is naturally more for- more for comfort in my opinion.

New voice:

My favorite piece in here, I liked all of them, but my most favorite one was the bear cabinet. Because I like bears. It's that simple, I like bears.

New voice:

Overall I loved all the art pieces. They were very good and all the makers made them handmade. My favorite one was the clock case. It reminds me of London, and it was very cool. Thank you.

TRANSITION - sounds

The clock case my friend said reminded her of London was made by Joseph Bryere in 1887. Bryere used packing crates to create the structure of the clock case, and natural materials to make it unique and beautiful. The clock stood in his hotel, Brightside-on-Raquette, until one winter when it got stolen! The clock was missing for decades until it came up for sale at auction and the auctioneer recognized it and allowed Bryere’s daughter Clara to buy it back for $1. Eventually the clock case was donated to our museum, and currently sits on exhibit in Natural Beauty. My colleague Merle has created a wonderful audio description for this object, so sit back, close your eyes, and really try to picture what Merle describes;

This rustic clock stands 8 and a half feet tall, the analog clock face sits within the clock crown at the top, surrounded by cedar bark. It shows the time as 10:08. The clock face also features a barometric pressure gauge. Surrounding the cedar bark frame, pine twigs are arranged in a mosaic pattern of dark and light brown. Two pillars to the left and right of the clock face, also featuring the same mosaic pattern, reach triangle shaped finials at the top of the clock crown. A peak featuring a diamond shaped finial sits atop the front of the clock crown. 

Below the clock crown is a column, slimmer than both the crown and the base of the clock. 1887 is arranged in pine twigs over a light brown applied birch bark base framed by a pine twig mosaic. Below, a hinged cabinet door features 3 diamond patterns in applied birch bark and pine twig mosaics, stacked on top of one another. The first, at the top of the cabinet door, is a horizontal diamond over light brown applied birch bark. The second is a vertical diamond over reddish brown applied birch bark. And the final is a smaller horizontal diamond over white applied birch bark. The clock features no pendulum. 

The clock base flares out below the column, and features another hinged cabinet door. A pine mosaic of dark brown twigs, interspersed with a repeating pattern of light brown on either side of the door, frame the design. The door design features a small diamond made of pine twigs within a white applied birch bark rectangle. The corners of the rectangle each have a pine twig touching each border of the corner. At the bottom of the clock base, the clock has feet about an inch and a half tall on all 4 corners.

TRANSITION - sounds

Rustic making is such an incredible tradition! From simple pieces to extremely ornate and beautiful pieces, from every day furniture like tables and chairs to more sculptural decor, there’s a rustic style for everyone. While this episode focused on Adirondack rustic, there are rustic traditions all around the world! Our temporary rustic exhibit Natural Beauty features both adirondack rustic and rustic from further afield.

Remember this exhibit is temporary, check our website, theadkx.org to find out what our changing exhibit gallery holds if you are listening to this podcast after the close of the 2026 season.

If you just can’t get enough rustic, come to our annual Rustic Fair here at ADKX! Rustic Fair happens the first weekend of September every single year, in 2026 it will be the 6th and 7th. Check our website to find out more details!

If this podcast has inspired you to try your hand at some rustic art, remember to be mindful of how and where you gather your natural resources. Using birch bark is a great place to start, but remember what Larry said! Pick up your materials from the ground. Never ever pull bark off a living tree! It might not seem like a big deal, but bark is basically the tree’s skin, and pulling it off makes the tree more vulnerable to disease. If you find a dead tree on the ground, you can pull bark from that, or you can just find pieces of bark that have fallen off the trees naturally. 

TRANSITION - ADKX Podcast conclusion - Thank you for joining us for an episode of ADKX-tra Credit. Ask us a question, or tell us what you thought by clicking the link above the episode description. This podcast is brought to you by Adirondack Experience, the museum on Blue Mountain Lake. Our mission is to expand understanding of Adirondack history and the relationship between people and the Adirondack wilderness, fostering informed choices for the future. If you want to learn more fun Adirondack history visit our website theadkx.org