Maček Furniture Company

Community Craft

Words Christopher Ferguson | Photos Parker Thornton

An artist and woodworker builds a legacy of lasting community and craft.

Mark Maček was only twelve years old when he moved to Austin in the ‘70s, but he already knew he wanted to study architecture. Sticking to his plan, he graduated from Austin High and enrolled at the University of Texas, loving education but also feeling out of step with the banality of office life.

Trading the office for the wood shop, he began turning to the craftsmanship of creating and sculpting, taking classes at Austin Community College and eventually apprenticing with vaunted Texas craftsman, Louis Fry. Mark credits Louis for teaching him the craft of woodworking, but the relationship also eventually made Mark a mentor for his peers and community. As he pursued teaching, that mentorship continued into the next generation of apprentices. Now far from a solitary pursuit, Mark attributes woodworking to a long, generational conversation.

His work, much like Austin itself, balances the old with the new, tradition with innovation, and individuality with community. 

I really look for curves and incorporate them into design work whenever I can; because when I shape wood in three dimensions in a curve, it reveals the inner structure of the wood grain.”  – Mark Maček

“The famous trope of a solitary, meditative artisan toiling is not how it is at Splinter Group,” Mark explains, referencing the collective he co-founded in 1997, home to his furniture practice. “It’s about having people around, sharing technical knowledge and resources, helping to lift heavy things. In general, craft is always about community and its values. Nobody really learns a craft by themselves; you’re part of a lineage of whoever taught you, whoever your peers are.”

Splinter Group is less about shared rent and more about shared vision. Although its physical location has varied with the ebbs and flows of the Eastside’s real estate market, it has endured for decades as a critical community node for artisans to share their techniques, resources, and friendship. 

“Craft is always about community,” Mark says, highlighting that his work, and the work of his fellow artisans, are a part of a larger narrative, a lineage that stretches through history.

Mark humbly possesses some of the finest skills in the country. His furniture pieces, which he designs and builds, are made to order, adorning private homes, corporate offices, and galleries throughout the country. As a result, his art has become heirloom pieces that are coveted by collectors and connoisseurs of fine craft.

Support Future Artisans:
The Austin School of Furniture is a core part of the local artisan community, a non-profit accepting donations to build a more permanent version of the school.

Contact:
macekfurniture.com
3508 E Cesar Chavez St.,
@moondragon_macek