Moran Woodworked Furniture

Charred Geometric Commode, Edition of 25. Here our single drawer modern interpretation of the traditional bedroom mainstay is rendered in charred Loblolly Pine; with mitered edges, the undulating texture wraps the case in deep color. As a counter point, the graphic, triangular hand-tapered legs remain clear and golden. A single deep drawer opens with a gentle pull from underneath the drawer's face. The cabinet is scaled for a place beside the bed or sofa with room for a lamp, several books and a glass of water. The Charred Collection evolved from the traditional roots of ancient Japanese wood construction, which emphasized a need for rot and bug tolerance while maintaining a consistent structural integrity. Our burning process, based on this model, entails binding three boards into a chimney for a controlled burn over a small firebox. The resulting boards are wire brushed and receive multiple coats of a clear zero VOC, water based finish. This ensures their durability, functionality and longevity as an elegant and unexpected addition to a space. Pinus teada l. This massive Pine was the last of her age in the North Charleston neighborhood where it had grown stout over 80 plus ripe years. Too stately to go to waste and so as not to end her days as mulch at the city dump, we endeavored, with the support of a local tree service, to have her cut into long lengths for our use. The striking wood garnered from her trunk, with pale stripes and blueing from Charleston's humid climate, has made each of the pieces made from this Loblolly a unique celebration of Pine’s stria-like grain and the environment in which this tree grew. If your time frame is a constraint, please be in touch to discuss possibilities. This design can be customized in both scale and material. Warm Cherry and bright brass both pair beautifully with charred Pine, and widening the case allows it to sit comfortably alongside a king size bed. We also use this technique regularly on larger custom items like sideboards, daybeds and credenzas as well as on smaller lamps and bookends. Please be in touch with us if you would like to discuss custom work. Most of the pieces we create at Moran Woodworked Furniture...

A new iteration which echoes that of our chairs of the same name, the loveseat, shown here in walnut with green cotton upholstery and two rows of button tufting, uses an elongated ba...

Edition of eight. Our five-legged bench is a juxtaposition of dark with light, so subtle details reflect the quiddity of each material used. The substantiality of the bench top is softened with elegant hand-cut bevels on both the top and bottom of each corner. Through-cut black walnut legs, wedged with a sliver of blonde Maple, pick out the ambling lines of near-black spalting which cross the mesmerizing curly pattern of this Maple’s grain. Each of the five hand-turned and tapered legs is capped with a bright copper foot. The piece receives multiple coats of a clear, high durability citrus-based Tung oil finish. Acer. One day a man went out into his Pennsylvania forest and planted a tree. A maple. One day that man’s grandson, in an effort to promote good stewardship of his family’s land, felled that same tree. She was past her prime, he would know as a tree farmer in his own right; signs of decay setting into the golden waves just hinted at beneath her thick hide of bark those selfsame signs are the beautiful streaks of near-black which dance along this Maple’s curling grain. She wouldn’t be the same tree without these age lines, and she couldn’t have stood sentinel in her Pennsylvania forest with them. This is a story of heritage, commitment and stewardship. If your time frame is a constraint, please be in touch to discuss possibilities. Please be in touch with us if you would like to discuss custom work. Many of the pieces we create at Moran Woodworked Furniture...

American Ash is currently experiencing a catastrophic blight caused by the emerald ash borer, a non-native beetle thought to have been brought to America in shipping materials from overseas while in a dormant state. This hanging piece is a bookmatched of two 1/16” slices of Ash, unique in color, figure and shape. The 26 Ash strips are woven together using organic remnant silk as the weft threads in a three over one herringbone pattern, the same pattern used in the famous burial shroud, the Shroud of Turin. The frame is handmade by the artist in black painted Ash. Drawing from both historical weaving patterns and their applications as well as from series of tree related biological blights and human driven near-extinction events, this series of sculptures, one of which is available for purchase here, asks about our ability to recognize and heal the harms we cause. Can we bind the things we are actively tearing apart and recognize our fragile reliance on the very thing we are damaging before it is too late? Each piece of wood used in this collection came from an ecologically and environmentally sound source. Blending textile and tree in woven panels of wood, each from a dead or dying species, they have been bound back together with silk utilizing the three- hop pattern found in the Shroud of Turin, questioning whether these will be the stitches to heal our damages or the burial shroud they will be wrapped it. There are three sculptures which have been created in this series to date. In addition to Ash, Moran has woven one in Chestnut and one in Redwood Root. Please contact us for more information. Weaving, inverting, book-matching, layering and framing become an act of contemplation in Michael James Moran...

Edition of 15. This three-leg design centers around the through-cut joinery affixing the subtly beveled edge of the curly Maple top with the Black Walnut base. A graphic wedge of Maple in this joint bisects the circular face of each Walnut leg. To varying degrees, near-black runnels of spalting mix with wavy three-dimensional curl in the blonde grain of the table surface. These unique patterns are picked out by their juxtaposition with dark, hand-turned and tapered legs, each of which is capped with a bright copper foot. The piece receives multiple coats of a clear, high durability citrus-based Tung oil finish. Acer. Maple. One day a man went out into his Pennsylvania forest and planted a tree. A Maple. One day that man’s grandson, in an effort to promote good stewardship of his family’s land, felled that same tree. She was past her prime, he would know as a tree farmer in his own right; signs of decay setting into the golden waves just hinted at beneath her thick hide of bark—those selfsame signs are the beautiful streaks of near-black which dance along this Maple’s curling grain. She wouldn’t be the same tree without these age lines, and she couldn’t have stood sentinel in her Pennsylvania forest with them. This is a story of heritage, commitment and stewardship. Please be in touch with us if you would like to discuss custom work. Most of the pieces we create at Moran Woodworked Furniture...

Our barrel form, fit to your body, sits atop four hand-turned and tapered legs. As the back band meets the line of the arm and joins the face frame, a three-way mitered joint unites ...