For Portland designer Michael Arras, his early experience with art gave no indication that he’d eventually decide to design furniture. “In school, I took art classes with everyone else,” he says. “But I didn’t have a real interest then. Mostly I doodled.”
After graduating from the University of Oregon with a degree in English, Arras, a native of Prineville, Ore., began working in an office in Portland. “As a response to having an office job, I got work as a bike messenger,” he says. “I’d visit a lot of galleries, and I always had my camera with me, so I’d take pictures of things that caught my eye. On the side, I got interested in making guitars and began to think about building things, so eventually I decided to go back to school.”
He enrolled in the Oregon College of Art and Craft, where he received a B.F.A. with a concentration in wood. “The classes were taught with a focus on furniture,” he says. “To learn about woodworking techniques and traditional joinery, we made furniture.”
The inspiration for the Circles Table (below) was a pattern in a trail he saw while he was out walking his dog. “On some of the roads around my house, the pebbles are packed into interesting patterns,” he says. “When I see something like that, I wonder how I can translate it into wood.”
His tables, which he makes in his basement woodshop, are constructed from birch plywood that’s dyed with a wood stain. “I cut a bunch of discs of various sizes, and then come up with an idea of how to put them together,” he says. “The discs are attached to each other with mortise-and-tenon joints, and the table top is attached to the legs with threaded inserts and metal brackets, which makes a very strong connection.”
For Arras, one of the best things about working with wood is seeing how his design sensibility continues to change. “What I really like is how my process is evolving,” he says. “I get to see how I like to work, and as that evolves, my designs change—and I end up someplace completely unexpected.” The Circles Table, which is 15 inches tall and 21 inches on each side, is $500. Arras notes that he accepts commissions to make the Circles Table in any size.
Contact designer Michael Arras at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or go to michaelarras.etsy.com.
