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Unite Two Design

Unite Two Design

Unite Two Design Studio, 639 Harlot Street, Elbridge NY
At first glance Keith and Theresa Traub of Unite Two Design appear perfectly normal. Engage them in conversation and you’d never suspect them of being that type – you know, risk takers; convention buckers, people audacious enough to grasp a dream with both hands and trek across the country in pursuit of it. Who does that? Only people capable of bringing into alignment a rare trifecta – the Will to relentlessly pursue an artistic passion, the Gift to create a thing that stirs the soul, and the Know-how to transform the whole affair into a viable business.
 
That type.
They are an uncommon couple: fierce; artistic; wildly inventive. And utterly unassuming.
Farmpunk coffee table
Theresa Doddona-Traub and Keith Traub
We meet them in Elbridge in their design studio on Harlot Street – the former Vanderveer Coleman bean processing plant – where they’ve spent the past year and a half renovating the workspace. Artistry in the smallest detail suggests the creative impulse is instinctive, subconscious. Sunlight pours over materials piled on long work-benches. It is space arranged for possibilities.
Keith takes us to his latest project: a coffee table constructed from old barn boards and a slice of metal fuel tank. The table’s surface has been oiled to a fine patina. “Oh, I haven’t seen this one yet,” Theresa says, running her hand along the grain. “It turned out great.”
We concur. The couple has spent years refining their style: “Farmpunk,” a romance between repurposed antique artifact and modern iron-work. It is a study in contrasts, sometimes quirky, sometimes whimsical, often drop-dead gorgeous.
Take the coffee table for example. A sculpture, really.
 
What makes this couple and their art a symbiotic union – a relationship of balance wherein objects of daily usefulness are immixed with functional art thereby nurturing the body and the soul – is that their work resurrects the ancient tradition of oral lore. Every piece has a back-story, a former life, and they take care to tell it. They take us on a tour and share the history: eclectic benches constructed from beams of former nearby barns; wine-racks revived from machinery sprockets left over from local construction sites; tables made from extinct chestnut salvaged from a turn-of-the-century schoolhouse.
The easy hour we share with Theresa and Keith at UTD leave us feeling wistful; inspired by those who relentlessly pursue artistic passion, who dare to buck convention.
You know, thattype.
Reclaimed, fabricated and found object jewelry
Meet Theresa Daddona-Traub and Keith Traub of Unite Two Design at the grand opening of their gallery in the village of Skaneateles on Friday, September 7, 2012 from 6 – 9 pm. See and purchase UTD Farmpunk fabrications and jewelry. Gallery location: 37 Fennel Street, Skaneateles New York.