the cloudhaus in cloudcroft, new mexico

With the rise in popularity of Spanish Colonial Revival Architecture across the United States, there was the need for roof tiles and associated decorative pottery. Seeing an opportunity for a source closer the the east, Rowland Hazard established La Luz Pottery Factory at the confluence of La Luz and Fresnal creeks, an outcrop of red clay in 1930, and the railroad line between Alamogordo and Cloudcroft. The factory churned out roof tiles, saltillo tiles, Mediterranean pottery, urns, and chimney tops. The company sold tiles in 44 of the 50 states and in several foreign countries, having a showroom in New York City. Besides many of the origianl buildings, the site still has its tall chimney, part of the large down-draft kiln used to fire La Luz products. Operators fired the kiln with fuel oil. A smaller kiln and chimney were used to test glazes and new items. The Tularosa Basin Historical Society , owners of the site, plan to rebuild the smaller chimney.  World War II and the loss o...

  As you know, we were lusting for some Charlotte Perriand-inspired shelves for the hallway. Perriand named her design "Nuage," the French word for cloud. How perfect is that! Originals of her floating shelves go for more than $100,000 (!!!), so that was not an option. And for the cabin, they needed to be of a certain dimension and design to fit the space and line up structurally with the studs in the wall. I worked up the concept and general dimensions and then worked with Ford at Little Water Woodworks in Wimsatt, New Mexico (a short drive east of Cloudcroft) to realize the design. Oh my, did he do a amazing job! Perriand's original design had the vertical elements (the black bits) made out of aluminum, although, when her first design came out, she used wood due to aluminum rationing during WW II. Ford is a woodworker, not an aluminumworker, so we went with wood. He finished the verticals in a way to perfectly complement the shou sugi ban wall around the corner with a...