This stand began with Wendell Castle's music stand at the Art Institute of Chicago — a piece worth admiring for its tapered, bent-laminated legs and its quiet line, but one that offers no adjustment of any kind. The aim here was to design a sculptural music stand that actually works.

Height is adjusted by a long sliding dovetail running the length of the column. A long dovetail is unforgiving — a few thousandths of an inch too loose and it rattles; too tight and it won't move at all; and seasonal wood movement has to be accommodated somewhere in the equation. Tilt adjustment is with a second wood mechanism and is equally precise.

The bent uprights are laminated from very thin layers of hard maple, pre-bent with steam, clamped overnight on a bending form, then glued with a rigid urea resin on a second form. The base and music holder are vacuum-pressed bent plywood laminations, veneered in quilted maple. The front and back uprights each required their own forms.

The joinery — curved parts meeting curved parts throughout — is the part other woodworkers tend to linger over. From design and mockups through finishing, the stand carries more than 180 hours of work. It is one piece.

Handcrafted to order in Madison, Wisconsin. Please allow 14–16 weeks for delivery

maple / quilted maple

45-51 ½” H, 20 ¾” W

Free shipping within the continental US (excludes AK and HI).