Steve Banen’s Phoenix workshop is a tool lovers’ dream, filled with vacuums, routers, a drill press, band saw, buffer, grinder and an array of woodworking supplies. There’s a neatly arranged drawer of hammers along with stacks of lumber and wood scraps, everything in its place and blanketed with a delicate layer of wood dust.
Banen, who started making airplane models as a 4-year-old growing up in Los Angeles, has lived in the Valley since 1978. He’s a woodworking artist who designs and builds stunning one-of-a-kind furniture and art pieces. He’s created everything from creative coffee tables to dramatic entry doors to striking display cabinets.
Making furniture wasn’t always on Banen’s radar. “It was born out of necessity,” he says. As a young adult, he needed to furnish an empty apartment, so he built furniture in his family’s cabinet shop. Then, he started designing and crafting functional art furniture.
When approaching a new project, Banen looks at the client’s environment to learn what they like. “Then I let it percolate a little bit and either make a drawing or a model,” he says. He doesn’t use computer-aided design and prefers a physical model that the client can rotate and see from all sides. Then, he makes a sample board with a palette of materials.
One of Banen’s favorite projects is a suspended ceiling art piece made of Baltic birch plywood with walnut veneer and steel that hangs 12 feet off the floor and weighs about 1,200 pounds. After consulting a structural engineer to ensure safety, Banen installed the piece while balanced on scaffolding. “I love the challenge,” he says. “And I don’t like doing the same thing twice.”
See more of his work on Instagram @steve_banen.
- Banen built this suspended ceiling installation designed to bring intimacy to a dining area under a high ceiling.
