Chandler McLellan was introduced to carpentry in an unusual environment: a 500-year-old Scottish castle. After graduating high school, McLellan left his hometown in Indiana to journey across the pond to stay with family. He found odd jobs here and there and then discovered his passion when he became an apprentice to a carpenter renovating a historic castle. “It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done,” he says. “I got hooked on woodworking from that point onward.”
After living in Scotland for five years and earning a degree in archaeology, McLellan found his way back to the States in 2016. A stint in cabinetmaking and homebuilding prompted the realization that he craved more creativity and less focus on functionality. Enter sculpting. McLellan started playing around with sculpture on the weekends (when his bosses would give him keys to their shops in the off-hours). He built up his skills on the side for a spell, then went off on his own as a full-time artist in 2018. “I know a lot of people with a similar early career, but then they’ll end up in furniture or something equally functional,” he says. “I went straight off the deep end into abstract sculpture.”
Following a winding journey that included several years in Colorado and Wyoming, McLellan now works out of a 4,000-square-foot warehouse studio in Sacramento, where he designs items ranging from furniture pieces to home accents, all inspired by the outdoors. “I’ve only lived in places where nature is the main focal point, and maybe through some kind of subconscious exchange, the curves of nature crept in,” he says. “Without thinking, when I sit down to draw, those kinds of things just come out.”
McLellan takes his time tweaking his vision on paper (“I’ll spend days working on what another person might see as just a blob”) before bringing the pieces to life with walnut, maple and great white oak. “In the world we live in today, everything’s right in our face,” he says. “There’s something to be said for subtle beauty and making art that gives people the opportunity to be in the moment and find value in something that’s simple and calm—and not just get excited over the newest, flashiest thing.”
Earlier this month, McLellan launched a soft and sensuous debut collection with Hudson Valley Lighting Group brand Troy Lighting. His favorite piece in the lineup is the Huntly table lamp, a near-replica of one of his first sculptures. It features curved cutouts and soft edges, like rocks smoothed by water.
As important as each piece might be individually, McLellan ultimately hopes his creations add to the larger context of a room. “I see my art having the biggest impact in being part of a whole in a space that is nourishing, not just because of my art, but because of what’s been put together as a collective,” he says. “I want these objects to be like little tokens of serenity. When you walk into a room, [for the piece] to just be soft and playful, not in your face and loud. I just think we have enough of that in the world right now.”
For more information on Chandler McLellan, check out his website and Instagram.
