Guilherme Sass

Casa na Árvore

Carpenter

Resourcefulness at the heart of making

Guilherme makes furniture pieces and tableware using reclaimed wood
His practice is shaped by resourcefulness, a quality he picked up as a child
He created a stool from a salvaged barge's timber, preserving the vessel’s history in his design

Guilherme Sass grew up making his own toys, encouraged by his father to figure things out and use whatever materials they had at hand. “If we were going to fly a kite, we would cut bamboo, buy tissue paper and make our own glue using flour and water,” says Guilherme. That early resourcefulness still guides his process today. He always loved to sketch and make things, so enrolling in a product design course at university felt natural to him. There, Guilherme discovered furniture making. He is committed to using reclaimed woods and adapts his designs to what is available. “The only condition I have in my practice is that the material must be usable. I aim to make pieces that last – ones people will keep for a lifetime and would want to pass on to their children," he explains.

Interview

How do your designs shape your methods?: I am passionate about technique, which goes hand in hand with the forms I am able to design. There is no point in designing something if it cannot be built. This need to make what I imagine pushes my technique forward. It forces me to invent methods that bring my ideas to life.
What challenges do you face in your practice?: As a maker, what I enjoy most is creating. However, I also have to manage the other aspect of my practice, which includes overseeing people and dealing with accounting and logistics. I find balancing both sides to be difficult.
Why do you choose to work with reclaimed wood?: At first, I took solace in the fact that I was not cutting down any trees. But I realised over time that there was more to it. Today, I am fascinated by the life the material has already lived – from the moment it ceased to be a tree after centuries of growth, to becoming timber, then part of a floor or a door that countless people had passed over.
What is a memorable piece you have worked on?: I had access to wood from a barge called Orca, which was being dismantled in a scrapyard. I found large logs, which are rare to find today. I did some research and discovered that it was built in The Netherlands. From this wood, I created a stool, which I also called Orca, and its design was inspired by the elements of the vessel it came from.

Guilherme Sass is an expert artisan he began his career in 2009