In the Memory of David Gulassa, 1960--2001

by Cyril Gulassa, David’s father

David Gulassa, the son of Rockridge residents Cyril and Harriet Gulassa, drowned while kayaking at midnight on Lake Union in Seattle on January 6. It was a serene evening, the weather remarkably warm, the air still, and the dark waters of the lake mirrored the stars and city lights, an irresistible lure for veteran boaters. After a party celebrating the growing success of the company he founded, he decided to kayak the mile from his office to his lakefront home, a trip he had made many times. But he never arrived. His body was found the following morning just a few feet from shore, his life vest still secure, his kayak nearby. Survival in the frigid water was limited to minutes, and although he was a strong swimmer, the autopsy disclosed that he drowned. He was forty.

David, an artist, designer and fabricator, founded the David Gulassa Co. in 1989 with partner Barrett Shepphard and developed it into a one of Seattle’s premiere design studios with separate shops for metal, wood and upholstery. His work has been featured in the Architectural Digest, the New York Times, Elle Decor, and most recently in American Contemporary Furniture, a book celebrating the achievement of the "most promising American furniture designers of today and beyond." His work has been on display in the New York Museum of Modern Art, and he was recently named as one of the twenty leading visionaries in the Seattle area.

While David collaborated with famous architects to produce one-of-a-kind designs for civic monuments, churches, businesses, artists and the private homes of patrons of the arts, his company introduced its own highly successful line of furniture last summer which is carried by Sloan Miyasato in San Francisco and the Furniture Company in New York. The David Gulassa Company achieved fame for its versatility in fabrication and the elegant simplicity of its designs which attracted clients nation-wide.

David was inspired by the forms of natural objects—stones, driftwood, leaves—as well as the forms created through collaboration between man and nature--the shape of boats, sails, oars and wings. He profoundly admired the poetry of machines, the sculptured power of a propeller, the intricate precision of a steam engine, the ability of an English flywheel to cold roll steel into sensuous curves. His office was a museum of shapes and motors, the yards a collection of huge steel and wood pieces salvaged from old buildings and bridges. His extensive personal library reflected his immense reverence for those who fired his vision and taught him what he tried to teach his colleagues and family—let nothing deter you from following your passion.

Born in Oakland in 1960, David attended Chabot and the Renaissance schools (the Arts Magnet School), which provided an art-centered curriculum where he excelled. There he learned how art infused all disciplines, from biology to the mathematics of proportion and balance. When the Oakland school superintendent was assassinated in 19____ by the Symbionese Liberation Army, the same group that kidnapped Patty Hearst, David was chosen to illustrate the biography of Dr. Marcus Foster, which was distributed to all the students in the system and led to his debut as an artist. An adventurer, he rode his ten-speed bike from coast to coast, traveled throughout Europe and North Africa, trekked in the Himalayas, and returned to Oakland to co-found Pacassa Studios with his Renaissance classmate Paco Prieto. He apprenticed with architects in Colorado and Washington, and worked for the Urban Accessories foundry where he developed a fascination for the bond between metal and wood. He founded David Gulassa Company at 29, which today employs 28 artisans, among them his brothers Stefan and Harry Gulassa. In accordance with David’s wishes, the company will continue on and maintain its hallmark standards of excellence.

Company artisans crafted David’s casket from a dugout canoe that he bought on a recent trip to the Philippines, and his wife made a lining of feathers. His body, wrapped in his boyhood quilt, lay in state in the candle-lit wood shop where friends gathered to mourn his passing. Guests helped burnish the cedar lid of the coffin with shop tools, including his 93-year-old grandmother Margaret Walker from Northville, Michigan. After messages were inscribed inside the lid, at midnight the coffin was sealed with 24 rivets, heated and driven by loved ones. The next morning it was transported in the bed of a 1982 Landrover pickup truck to St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral on Capitol Hill where 800 attended the memorial service. He was buried near the family home on Vashon Island, Washington.

David Gulassa is survived by his wife Tracy, daughter Ava, parents Cyril and Harriet, sisters Lise and Cyrille, and brothers Harry, Brian and Stefan. Tax-deductible donations in his memory may be made to the Seattle Foundation, c/o David Gulassa Fund. The funds will be used to create a museum of natural and manmade shapes, and support young artisans and projects inspired by his vision. A separate trust fund is being established for David’s daughter, Ava Gulassa.