Randall Kramer, who styles himself as a “designer of extraordinary everyday items,” says his work is largely inspired by materials, “by how they feel and what they do.”
They can include marble, ceramic tile mosaics, beach stone and wood cabinetry, or any combination of the above. Which accounts for the wonderfully disparate body of work that emerges from his Bucktown basement studio: a traditional Arts and Crafts-style bed designed to complement an existing metal and wood railing in a bungalow; a console table with a demilune mosaic top; an apron of hand-forged steel and a body of copper, leaf-covered steel resting on a base of sand-blasted stone.
Or picture a hand-forged fireplace screen with a primitive motif of pine trees as a metaphor for the home’s location in a grove of majestic conifers on the Indiana shoreline.
Making a frequent appearance, however, is metal in its many faces.
“I like working in all materials,” explains Kramer, “but metal is cool because it is a little lower-tech. I don’t want to sound like Superman, but I like the fact I can bend steel.”
He can also bend his artistic ego to the needs of others. “I work closely with architects and designers whose clients have a vision of what they want, but can’t find it in the stores.
“I can take someone’s thoughts and interpret them,” adds Kramer, whose commercial work includes eight three-legged steel pivoting dressing mirrors at Bigsby & Kruthers.
“The mirrors always get a lot of compliments,” says John Zanardi, visual manager of the Michigan Avenue store, for which Kramer has also done a large amoeba-shaped floor mosaic containing everything from broken ceramic mugs to Italian gold tiles.
One interior designer for whom Kramer frequently does residential commissions is Pearl Shless, whose firm, Pearl Interiors, is in River Woods.
Shless says she enjoys the collaboration for “the fun of doing something that is one of a kind. I enjoy bringing the ability to do something personal to the client.”
She also likes the way Kramer makes mixed marriages of metals.
“He did a buffet for a client in a combination of highly polished steel, a rusted steel and wood, a combination I just love. I also like that he can incorporate mosaics with metal,” she adds.
Kramer, who has held 42 jobs in his 40 years, says: “What I do now I love the best. I feel blessed I can do what I love and make money from it, too.”
