The Queue: Seth Rolland
Get to know the people featured in the pages of our magazine as they share what's inspiring them right now.
The Queue: Seth Rolland
Seth Rolland at his work bench, 2024. Photo by Seth Rolland.
Seth Rolland carves, steams, and bends wood into masterful nature-inspired furniture.
The Pacific Northwest, with its mossy forests, misty weather, and dappled light, is a wellspring of inspiration for artists of all mediums. Seth Rolland, who lives in Port Townsend, Washington, draws from these surroundings to create expressive custom furniture and wooden sculpture that fills homes and lives with beauty and meaning. A master of his craft, he has been designing and making furniture since 1990. Employing a variety of hardwood species, Rolland’s work balances form and function: his spare, windswept Wave Desk cleverly hides three drawers and includes a channel for electronic wires for utility’s sake. Other furniture balances harsh angles in wood with large, round stones. This September, Rolland and fellow furniture maker Kevin Reiswig will show new work that uses tree branches as a motif at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts in Washington. Jon Spayde wrote about Rolland’s Salish Sea Bathtub, a boat-inspired vessel for relaxation and rest made from more than 200 individual pieces of sapele, in “Craft That Calms” in the Spring 2024 issue of American Craft.
How do you describe your work or practice in 50 words or less?
I’m a woodworker creating functional and nonfunctional work inspired by plants, animals, and landscapes. I like exploring the properties of the material by experimenting with processes like kerf cutting, bending, and carving techniques to transform rectangular boards back into forms more related to their natural origins.
What are your favorite tools for working with wood?
I love shaping complex curves, which usually involves a band saw, spokeshave, rasp, scraper, and carving gouge. Two humble but essential tools for me are blue tape and an eraser. And anytime I’m not on an airplane I have a locking-blade pocket knife.
Is there a place in the Pacific Northwest that has particularly inspired your work?
There are so many beautiful environments in the Pacific Northwest, but the old-growth bottomlands of Olympic National Park are where I feel truly at home. The peace, softness, and quiet drama in these forests hopefully comes through in my work, though I rarely use a direct visual reference.
On your website, you write, “Furniture is interactive and we develop a bond as we eat, sit, play, sleep, work and live with it. When a table, chair, bed or desk leaves my workshop, I hope it becomes part of your life and history through generations of use.” Tell us about a piece of furniture that has become a part of your life.
When my sons were teenagers, I designed a coffee table as a gift from the three of us to their mom for our den. I designed it with eight legs so each kid could make four, and I did the rest. By working together, this table started with a good bond for our whole family and has had a lot of food, feet, and games on it since.
Music Stand, 2016, sustainably harvested cherry and quilted maple, 53 x 29 x 19 in. Photo by Myron Gauger.
Tulip Hanging Lamp, 2019, sustainably harvested cherry, brass, 33 x 9 x 9 in. Photo by Myron Gauger.
If you could have work from any contemporary craft artist in your home or studio, whose would it be and why?
It would be hard to choose between the seed- or landscape-inspired sculptures of Dean Pulver. I love the stripped-down elemental feel of his pieces, the tactile quality, and textured finishes. And I enjoy warming my hands and soul daily with tea in beautiful mugs by Abby Salsbury. I’d also love to own Cedro di Versailles by Giuseppe Penone.
Which craft artists, exhibitions, or projects do you think the world should know about, and why?
I’ve been honored to be both an instructor and former board member of the Port Townsend School of Woodworking. The school offers a great mix of classes by talented local woodworkers, Northwest Native carvers, and nationally known studio furniture makers.
Monolith Coffee Table, 2019, sustainably harvested cherry, basalt, glass, 26 x 57 x 25 in. Photo by Myron Gauger.
Limbs under construction for the Kumo coffee table, 2022, sustainably harvested local alder. Photo by Seth Rolland.
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