Design first piqued John Randall’s interest while he was working in construction as a teen. “I had whole pads filled with ideas,” he says. “What propelled me into design initially was to see these ideas made real.”
His college studies offered some unexpected assistance. “Studying biology at Vasser lent an anatomical lilt to finding my voice in furniture design,” he explains. Randall pursued his passion after graduating, when he crafted his first piece: a minimalist coffee table. “It’s remarkable seeing a creation that’s been floating around in your head come into physical being,” he says. “It’s a gratification that feeds back on itself. Before you know it, there’s no other path for you in your life.”
Wood paneling from Bien Hecho wraps Le Crocodile restaurant, designed by Loren Daye
Randall launched his Brooklyn, New York-based woodworking shop and interior design firm Bien Hecho in 2007. Specializing in working with reclaimed wood, the objects he brings to life combine rich textures with modern sensibilities. “The aim is to elevate this material in service of fine furniture,” he says. “Woodworkers depend on deforestation for their livelihoods, so it’s an excellent workaround for an unfortunate aspect of the industry.”
Today, his products have found their way to Kit Kemp’s Whitby Hotel in Manhattan; the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge by INC Architecture & Design; and the Loren Daye-designed Le Crocodile restaurant in the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. What sets his work apart is how immersed he is in the collaboration process, inviting designers to his studio to select wood for the projects. “It gets them into the fabrication space, and it gives my team the chance to have input and a perspective that we don’t get on a day-to-day basis,” he says.
A custom credenza is made with Baltic birch, butternut, and ipe
Up next, Randall is working on a Michelin-starred restaurant with the partners behind Brooklyn’s Oxalis called Place des Fêtes. As for the products, inspiration often comes from his dreams, he says. “The interior dreamscapes I wander through can be rich with ornamentation and furnishings from some recess of my mind that I have no waking access to.”
This article originally appeared in HD’s September 2021 issue.
More from HD:
NoMad London Captures a New York Sensibility
What I’ve Learned Podcast: Ed Ng, AB Concept
4 Wellness-Driven Spaces Offer a Dose of Respite
