Big Woods Furniture Collection by Aaron Poritz.

Big Woods Furniture collection by Aaron Poritz.

The 20-piece Big Woods furniture collection of timber sculptures by Brooklyn-based ceramicist and furniture designer Aaron Poritz of Poritz & Studio debuted at New York’s Cristina Grajales Gallery earlier this year. The series was born out of a transformative trip to the jungles of Nicaragua.

“Some years before his arrival, a fierce hurricane felled vast stands of tremendously tall old-growth trees. Now strewn upon the earth, the rot-bound trunks qualified for legal harvest,” said Grajales. “Recognizing opportunity amidst the devastation, Aaron set up a furniture business with a local partner, and went about investigating the design potential of such exotic specimens as Nogal, a tropical walnut known for its rich espresso and purple tones, and frijolillo, a dense and heavy blonde wood similar to oak.”

The collection came quickly after, as Nicaragua became somewhat of a watershed moment for the designer. Produced by local craftsmen, Poritz credits Danish modern furniture and the American mid-century master Wharton Esherick as inspiration.

Big Woods offers a glimpse into the designer’s artistic expression with a liberating series of organic shapes at unusual scales. Poritz employed a number of techniques from hand and robotic carving, charring, and stack lamination to create these organic objects from bleached ash and ancient oak—some sophisticated and others surprisingly raw and naive. The result is a visual language all his own, evocative of body, plant, and landscape in a rare display of timber’s full potential.

Poritz’ own background and skill as a woodworker is apparent in the inside-out joinery he devised to reveal the construction of each piece. There is not a single screw in the entire collection, carrying through on his design motif of melding tree and timber.

In an effort to create a careful and conscious approach to furniture making and selling, Poritz explains how each bit of wood for every piece of furniture was acquired and where it had grown.

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Floor light by Aaron Poritz. Photo by Nicole Frazen.

The Tambour Bar by Aaron Portiz. Photo by Nicole Frazen.

[Images courtesy of Aaron Poritz. Photography by Nicole Frazen.]