Photograph: Courtesy of Scout

There’s some magic happening in the garage behind Scout (5221 N. Clark St.) in Andersonville. Designer Matt Ovel, a recent transplant from Kansas City, has turned part of the space into a furniture studio. Back there, he’s creating handcrafted pieces, such as the Contour Chair shown above, which was exhibited in the Furniture Revolution gallery at NeoCon in 2011.

Ovel’s design style is all about finding unique ways to exhibit the beauty of materials (a single piece of plywood in the case of the Contour Chair). Ovel also does custom orders and works on updating vintage pieces (say, by putting a new top on an antique table base).

At the moment, Ovel’s work is available exclusively at Scout, so swing by and check it out next time you’re in the neighborhood.