DOUG MEYER
Doug Meyer is a northeast-Ohio-based artist. He started making sculpture in his bedroom in 9th grade and progressed into paintings, art cars, inflatable art, and more. Unable to afford art school, Doug eventually enrolled in welding school, graduating with a Combination Welder certificate from Job Corps in 1998. He soon bought his first welder and began building his own modified bikes and furniture. He also participated in and hosted arts events at local clubs, studios, and galleries. By 2008, his furniture works were selling well enough for him to go into business full-time, selling his wares under the moniker Rustbelt Rebirth. Doug has since sold furniture all over the united states and popped up in articles from Elle Decor to American Craft to the NY Times. He was awarded multiple awards of excellence from the American Craft Council in 2013. He currently works out of his studio warehouse in Warren, Ohio.
"I've always been fascinated by past versions of the future by way of science fiction and modernist design trends. Part of me still lives in a post-apocalyptic world where I take scraps of what’s left of the old world to build a new one. The downfall of manufacturing in Ohio is a metaphor or a foreshadowing of this world. All the post-consumer junk washing up on the shores of local salvage stores and scrap yards litter my imagination. Armed with a tubing bender, a welder, and a shear I get to transform the old world into an archival thing of beauty. It’s possibly the only power I have. Old desks, shelving, furnace housings, toolboxes, lockers, and more are cut back to flat sheets of colored metal. Frames are built with hand pulled bends and sometimes scraps of other frames. The process highlights the usefulness of the separate pieces instead of blending them or hiding their disparate qualities. The results are a holistic design that’s 98% efficient. Welcome to the new world."