Into The Woods
Clean-lined and handcrafted, Doug McCollough’s furniture heralds a warming trend in modern design.
December 2010
Doug Mccollough, a former schoolteacher, may have gone into furniture
design on a whim—“A friend told me about a woodworking center in Maine,
and it sounded like fun”—but it clearly was a smart decision. Since
launching his New York–based studio, DM/DM, in 2008, McCollough, 28, has
been garnering buzz for his quietly elegant pieces that blend the honest
craftsmanship of Sam Maloof with the understatement of midcentury Danish
design. “I like modernist furniture, but it often lacks a kind of warmth
and character,” says McCollough, who custom-makes each piece by hand.
“My work isn’t meant to remain pristine. It’s meant to take on a
patina.” His clients include artists and interior designers, but one of
his best, not surprisingly, is his brother Jack McCollough of Proenza
Schouler; he created a rustic wood bed for Jack’s country house and
industrial-looking mahogany tables, benches, and black lacquer cubes for
the Proenza showroom. “Doug has impeccable taste,” says Jack, who
recalls the elaborate drawings his brother used to make as a child. “And
what I have noticed in his work—which is a quality I like to think we
share—is his intense, almost OCD-like attention to detail”
(917.776.7874, dmdm.us).
