Retro-inspired pillowed birch cabinetry. A 500-year-old cypress smooth countertop. A butcher-block patterned stitched veneer credenza. Each of these hand-made masterpieces lives in the Lido Beach House, the ‘50s-infused home of woodworker Dale Rieke and photographer Jenny Acheson, the duo behind Wood Street Studio. Broken up into three rentable apartments, the home as a whole oozes mid-century modern, almost all of the furniture made by Rieke and many of the pieces refurbished vintage finds; silver cylindrical lights hang over the newly redone kitchen in the two-bedroom, found by Acheson at an Elliot Bernstein auction. The baseboards connected to the high-top bar counter Rieke designed to resemble a ’50s diamond wood pattern; extended slick countertops—part of a retro Formica line with tiny, suspended pastel boomerangs—beg for pot-luck party spreads.
PHOTO BY JENNY ACHESON.
The sensibility within the home speaks to Rieke’s affinity for the modern style: “It’s more of a challenge,” he says, “trying to create flat surfaces with clean lines, tight reveals and not much movement. Contemporary is much harder because you have less forgiveness.” Speckled terrazzo flooring winds throughout the studio, one-bedroom (where Rieke and Acheson reside) and the two-bedroom, accented by cheeky crayon-colored barstools and countertops alongside a collection of mid-century chairs that occupy space both inside the apartments and in the forested, surfboard-laden side garden.
PHOTO BY JENNY ACHESON.
Though his eye may gravitate towards the mid-century look, Rieke’s approach to sourcing materials leans toward a decidedly present-day focus on sustainability. He calls the new phase of his business “artistic urban lumber,” a project where he saves lumber from trees being cut down to build an urban structure such as a garage, using the wood, which would normally rot in a dump, to create contemporary furniture. The endeavor has brought in some of the most interesting woods, says Rieke; a friend from Kentucky practicing the same principle brought down logs of elms, black walnuts and Kentucky coffee woods—species not normally found in Florida—along with a pignut hickory, carved into a headboard that sits peacefully atop a hand-made daybed in the Lido Beach House’s two-bedroom.
PHOTO BY JENNY ACHESON.
Though Rieke’s ultimate goal remains building his own furniture to be sold, for now he continues to take on commissioned work, with projects ranging from head-to-toe wooden home offices to creating entire interiors in French traditional, while more visible projects come in the form of Rieke’s cabinet installation and Paul Rudolph-designed furniture reproductions in the Ringling’s Walker Guest House Replica. Rieke’s newest challenge also lands at The Ringling, as he constructs elements of the Tea House at the new Center for Asian Art (a shoji screen slider, tokonoma art alcove and nijiriguchi crawl-through door, a mizuya tea preparation cabinet to name a few) as well as the entryway sculpture for the new Ringling College Library. “We’re going to float two Australian pine logs that weigh about 3,000 pounds a piece nine inches off of the ground,” says Rieke of the sculpture. “The trees will be stripped back of all the bark and then oiled and sanded smooth, so when you touch them and they will just be dreamy soft.”
