August 8. Woodworking has long been a part of Fred Janik's life, an odd choice since it is one of the most difficult artistic mediums.
“(Wood) is a little harder than ceramic or glass,” Gianni explains. "You need more cars and more capacity."
With the help of his wife of 50 years, Debra Jani, he creates functional objects that have been commonplace in homes since 1977. Its line of wood products includes kitchenware, cutting boards, lazy susannas, rolling pins, sausage boards, tables, vases, mirrors and home decor items.
"I've been designing for as long as I can remember," says Jani, who has degrees in mathematics, architecture and environmental design. Her woodworking company, Designs by Janik, is selling her creations at art festivals like the Lewiston Arts Festival this weekend.
Janik spent most of his time making things through research and development, and some sections of his sketchbook date back 20-30 years. Finding a museum-quality piece that you like can take up to a year. A project that you can assemble and customize yourself will not take much time.
"It took a lot of work to turn it into wood," says Janik, using a joinery, planer, band saw, table saw and roller to complete the job.
The design came from Janik's head, but he felt that others wanted to create it. He rarely made custom pieces, only when he found it interesting.
Yani uses local oak, maple, cherry and walnut, as well as exotic woods from Africa, Indonesia, South America and Hawaii. He had a small shop for his business and his home in Lockport was his office.
Festivals like this are Janik's main way to sell his work, as he doesn't have a showroom or online presence. When they turn 80, they limit their runs to the festival, not Chicago and Washington.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Janik's family toured the country, holding various art exhibitions for three months a year. They were part of national art shows in Chicago, Florida and San Francisco, and Janik bought exotic woods from deep-water ports to sell.
We were on vacation in Hawaii, and I took a tour bus to a sawmill, Gianni says, to order koa wood that can only be found on the Big Island, which he still uses today. Along with local distributors, he has enough wood to last a lifetime.
Jani has exhibited her work at the Lewiston Arts Festival since its inception 45 years ago, one of the few local festivals she has participated in. Sometimes the brothers help him organize and clean his stall during these village festivals.
"The atmosphere and the people who run it are A," Gianni said, calling it one of the best financially and for the people. "I never had any serious problems there."
Cross-city show trips take their toll. At a recent show in Syracuse, Giannis had to turn down a promotional offer because he wanted to save money.
"I can count on my fingers how many people I've left since we started," Jani said, calling herself a dinosaur.
However, his products have managed to last for generations, with several customers telling him decades ago that they were fighting for their children's hand-crafted family heirlooms.
