ABOUT SIMPLE DESIGNS
I grew up with trees: climbing sycamores, collecting walnuts, cutting down the Christmas cedar. Stained hands from rotting walnuts, the sycamores, oaks and ginkgos in our yard, the purple ash I planted for Mother’s Day, and the smell of fresh cut cedar were all central to me as a child. As I've grown older I've been privileged to witness the opening of the tree, seeing its grain figures and its heart and sapwood. Having considered the many attributes of trees, I feel it is a privilege to eat on the cross-section of a tree, to sit on the map of its life, and to store things in a case of its body.

My vision of furniture is one in which neither the design nor the materials aesthetically outweigh each other. My intention is to create pieces in which the simplicity of the design and the natural beauty of the wood command notice simultaneously and are intimately related. I am interested in the interaction of the natural and man-made worlds. I work to discover where these worlds intersect and how they can complement and balance each other. Likewise, I am interested in the balance between form and function and where on that scale each piece I build lies.

Watching black walnut and American cherry logs opened at the mill has led me to believe that each piece of wood has its own specific place. It is this belief that drives my work.

Michael J. Moran

Simple Designs