Jason Roskey grew up in Texas in a middle class, blue-collar family, but even at a young age he was inspired by art and architecture. When he was in elementary school and went on field trips to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, he was one of the few students interested in the Louis Kahn-designed building and the works inside it.
Roskey later went to college and envisioned a more traditional path for himself. “I didn’t know I could pursue a creative life and career,” he says. “I spent years doing business-type things to make a living. It wasn’t until I moved to New York that I really began discovering furniture and interiors.”
Photo: Maggie Goudsmit
A self-taught woodworker, Roskey built custom pieces by hand in Brooklyn. His practice evolved, and he founded Fern in 2009. Today he operates the company from a studio and workshop in Hudson, New York, continuing the region’s long tradition of quality furniture production. Roskey first designs each item, which is then fabricated in-house by a team of skilled makers.
The studio now offers lighting, which is a natural complement to the sculptural tables and chairs. Fiberglass and hand-laced goat parchment on select fixtures are paired with bases of cast aluminum, blackened steel, and sand-cast bronze. This inaugural collection is now on view alongside signature furnishings in Junctions, the debut show at the Assembly Line Annex in Tribeca, a new exhibition space by General Assembly.
Quick to capture concepts as they come to him, Roskey continues to refine his initial models. “I am always sketching and designing in multiple ways,” he notes. “Often when I have a very pressing idea I will design directly on the bench, working through templates for different shapes.”
Today, Jason Roskey joins us for Friday Five!
Photo: Courtesy of Fern
1. Camper Van
In 2023 our studio needed a van to move furniture parts, upholstery and other things between fabrication partners. We ordered this 2024 Sprinter Van that splits time between shop duties and as a camping rig. It’s outfitted for a bunk bed, wifi, and a lightweight canoe stores on top.
Photo: Courtesy of Fern
2. John Porritt Welsh Chair
My favorite kind of chairs are vernacular chairs found throughout the world like the farm Windsors of England, Alpine tavern chairs and the Welsh Stick Chair. The Welsh Stick Chair is really the everyman’s Windsor – much less ornate, and often made from local green woods and material from hedgerows. All parts of the chair are made using different hand tools and no parts are turned on a lathe. Because the chairs were historically made by amateur woodworkers or village craftspeople, they each have a unique character. John Porritt is based in Spencertown, New York. A native of the U.K. John has been making this simple style of chair for decades. His are the most refined (and comfortable) that I have come across. While John’s chairs share the simplicity of prior Welsh stick chairs, they are of modern proportions. Visiting John for tea in his old Dutch barn workshop to discuss all things woodworking is a treat. His chairs are among my favorite being made in the country. He is using wood he sources entirely from around his Hudson Valley home that he dries next to his shop’s wood stove. I commissioned John a few years ago to build me this 8-stick Welsh chair. Often his chairs are expertly finished to appear vintage, but he painted this one black to naturally gain a patina over time.
Photo: Courtesy of Fern
3. Secret Catskills Creek
My favorite way to spend time alone is fly fishing. Standing in a river waving a stick to fool a trout into eating a fly – and then releasing it – might seem silly to some, but it’s my favorite way to unwind. The Catskills region has a variety of types of rivers, and the fishing I do in these parts can be relaxing dry fly fishing using traditional flies but mostly it is long hikes and wading in boulder-strewn streams. The woods, river, geological forms and wildlife inform so much of the work I do.
Photo: Courtesy of Fern
4. Baja Sur
I haven’t explored a lot of Mexico, but I’ve seen enough to know I love it. In college, we would make trips to the border towns – places that are no longer safe to visit. It felt like such an adventure in those days. My family and I try to make it to Baja Sur every few years. The area is made up of my favorite types of landscapes – a collision of mountains, the desert and the ocean within a close proximity.
Photo: Courtesy of Fern
5. Paris, Texas Poster
The film “Paris, Texas” by Wim Wenders made such an impact on me when I saw it while attending college in West Texas. Here was this film that kind of wasn’t really about Texas at all, but also it was. Wenders portrayal of American alienation resonated with me, a kid from a small town who didn’t really have a clue where he was going or how to get there. Of course there is the hauntingly beautiful Ry Cooder soundtrack, too.
Works by Fern’s Jason Roskey:
Photo: courtesy of Fern
Tulia Dining Table
Inspired by the rock formations of Texas’ Palo Duro Canyon, the Tulia Dining Table features monumental sized base components constructed from laminated hardwoods.
Photo: courtesy of Fern
Torre Table Lamp
Torre series of lamps reference Brutalist architecture forms, Casa Luis Barragán, using refined wood and metal working techniques.
Photo: courtesy of William Jess Laird
Junctions Exhibition at Assembly Line Annex
Junctions by Jason Roskey of Fern is a new collection of lighting and furniture crafted entirely in the Hudson Valley. Working with parchment, fiberglass, metal, and wood, the pieces investigate the interplay of weight and lightness.
Photo: courtesy of Fern
Ridge Bed
The Ridge Bed is a solid hardwood platform bed featuring a solid headboard with an upholstered pad that utilizes leather and darkened or white bronze hardware. The bed has two floating cabinets with cast bronze pulls, and cord management through the rear of side tables. Platform base available in plinth or standard styles.
Photo: courtesy of Fern
Elwha Cabinet
Influenced by natural valleys and extreme river environments, a deep ravine is carved into the case surround of the Elwha Cabinet. Doors are accessed with sand casted white bronze that reflect a warm silver tone.
Photo: courtesy of Fern
Sheffield Sectional, Ned Floor Lamp, Clois Daybed
Referencing middle 20th century forms, the Sheffield upholstery collection features exposed wood arm and panel components. The Ned Floor Lamp is our first foray into sculptural lighting that is an extension of the laminated wood pieces we have been exploring. Ned features a built-up hardwood base, a hand cast fiberglass & wood shade, and custom steel armature. And the Clois Daybed is a monumental-sized piece featuring hardwood construction with classic joinery details including wedged and carved wood tenons and faceted leg details. The mattress features a weighted, removable bolster, and a down filled pillow sized to match the bolster.
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