eatured in the Northwest Woodworkers Gallery online , Seth Rolland has been making furniture for decades and his woodworking — which is inspired by machines and what he observes in nature — displays sculptural design while retaining function .
While he ’ s been crafting custom furniture since 1990 , he has had an appreciation for design since childhood . His mom was an architect and his dad a landscape architect ; Rolland grew up with Eames , Aalto , and Danish furniture and hearing discussions about design and production .
“ I think that just thinking about how things work and how items in our lives should both work well and look good was
always a big theme between my parents and my childhood ,” Rolland said .
He spent his last semester of college in a Maritime Studies Program at Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut , taking a boatbuilding course , which served as his introduction into more refined woodworking .
Rolland next apprenticed with custom furniture maker Janis Colella . While working for her , he realized that making furniture allowed him to do just as interesting and precise woodworking as boatbuilding did , but also allowed him more freedom of design .
From then on , he said he pursued furniture , making patio chairs for five years , learning more about woodworking and running a business .
“ But , essentially , production of patio furniture was pretty boring and so I started designing more interesting pieces and things
NORTH BEACH HALL TABLE
64 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE