SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Hot Stuff: Jason Lees Design
August 20, 2008

Furniture maker Jason Lees is on a quest to build modern furniture from wood that is simple but warmly appealing. His latest collection draws on that foundation, but adds a new material, Richlite, a wood composite, to the design equation. Used in kitchen counters and skateboard ramps, it offers a solid, warm surface that complements oak and walnut. “I have not seen it used in more elegant furniture,” he said.

DESIGN FOR LIVING
The Modern Reinterpreter
November 2007

Since opening his studio four years ago, Lees has been attracting national attention with his distinctive designs and personal service. His eye-catching pieces, which combine various woods with graphic color blocks, have been ordered by clients around the country and showcased in a number of magazines. “You see a lot of all-wood and all-lacquered or painted furniture, but a mixture of the two is much rarer,” Says Lees of his media consoles, side tables, beds, and bookcases. “It’s nice to be able to play with color and wood tones.”

BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
Artfully Furnished
November 2006

His furnishings, a blend of mid-century-modern and Japanese styles, get real-life scrutiny in his "laboratory" - the 1922 bungalow that Jason shares with his wife, Janet. "I like to live with pieces before I put them out into the world," Jason says. With their clean lines and graceful curves, Jason's tables, cabinets, and shelves complement the simplicity of the home's Craftsman architectural details, yet the designs are sleek enough to give the old bungalow a fresh and modern edge.

APARTMENTTHERAPY.COM
Jason Lees Design: Designer
August 9, 2006

Oakland-based Jason Lees makes wooden furniture that's pretty easy to spot. The low-lying horizontal proportions and fine handwork evoke mid-century and Japanese influences. But the work is notable for the way it brings warmth to its modern lines, and for the great attention paid to the craft of woodworking. Although the simple, strong geometric forms of the pieces are the primary story, the materials are hardly an insignificant subplot. In fact, one of the things we like best about his work is the way non-wood materials (lacquer, stone, paint, acrylic and leather) are subtly incorporated, adding surface interest to Platonically formed cabinets, beds and tables.

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE MAGAZINE
Bedside Reading, Dreaming
June 5, 2005

The Plane bed with tables by Oakland's Jason Lees is a streamlined, winged sculpture of vertical-grain douglas fir planes.

METROPOLITAN HOME
Editor's Choice: American Beauties
March 2005

Oakland's Jason Lees believes in craft, building modern furniture using traditional woodworking techniques; his
Ease stacking tables make an arrestingly different storage unit.

SAN FRANCISCO 7 X 7 MAGAZINE
Dreamscape
November 2004

The elegantly simple Float daybed from Oakland furniture designer Jason Lees might just make you want to pull on your pajamas for leisurely lounging. His modernist sensibility and Japanese influences are matched with an earthy solidity.

THE WORLD OF INTERIORS
What's in the Air This Month
October 2004

Jason Lees was born in England and grew up in Southern California. Unsurprisingly, his projects have a range of influences, although in the main they tend towards the European. This Eames-esque custom dresser in teak with red-orange lacquer paint is a mix of traditional Asian design with 20 th -century modern.

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
Functional Forms: Oakland Furniture Designer Blends Art, Practicality
October 22, 2004

For a guy who loves design, Jason Lees is a practical sort. The Outline wall mounted console, constructed out of a beautifully grained, rift-sawn white oak with dark African wenge pulls, could stand on it's own as art. It floats on the wall, an intriguing linear piece of modern sculpture. But the console also would work as a console-sideboard, a media cabinet or a bar. And therein lies the beauty of his work. He somehow manages to pay tribute to the smallest details - varying the way the grain of the wood runs on the doors of a piece to add interest, for instance - while envisioning the way his furniture can become a functional part of his clients' lives.

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Clean But Warm: Jason Lees' Furniture Takes the Chill Off Modern Design
October 6, 2004

A warm modernity is what appeals most to designer Jason Lees. The furniture in his collection is clearly contemporary, evoking Scandinavian design of the 1950's and Asian themes. While drawn to modern lines, Lees dislikes the coldness of pure modern interiors. "I like things that have a warmth to them," he said, "that are simple without being simplistic, clean but not bland". His round Wallscape is the height of simplicity with its occasional vertical uprights doubling as shelf supports and dividers for books.

MOCOLOCO.COM
Custom Made Modern Contemporary Furniture
June 7, 2004

Jason Lees builds modern furniture using traditional materials and techniques - i.e., he builds his pieces out of wood. This wouldn't sound so strange, except that it is. In a field where so much is made from cutting-edge new materials, from plastics and polymers to concrete and resin and cardboard, it's refreshing to see someone bringing a carpenters discipline and craft to modern furniture design. Pictured is his Recess round coffee table.