“Wood moves and changes, it ages and transpires,” divulges Georges Mohasseb. After all, this organic material is what his company, Woodand, was founded upon just a few years ago. Indeed the creative team behind Woodand, is always on the search for the materials that integrate best with wood. Mohasseb’s passion for his preferred material shines through his words, describing it as though it were almost human. He gazes out of the window and continues, “It’s a symbol of warmth, it responds to our senses.”
Mohasseb may have been destined to become an artist in this field but his eccentric passion always made him stand out. At school, while others dreamt of Ferraris, Mohasseb dreamt of chairs. Therefore, following a degree in architecture from Washington, Mohasseb decided to take a break from it all and moved to Paris where he began working in consulting. But it was not to be as his calling merely followed him; tracking the footsteps he left behind in the forest of trees.
“A couple of days later I was still trying to move into Paris, and all of a sudden I bump into a person I haven’t seen for 7 years, and she asked me to design two arm chairs for her.” Mohasseb was reticent even though the seed had been sown, “It was something that I really wanted to do, but I had taken a step back and all of a sudden it had returned. So I started again on a part-time basis.” But the seed sprung up, first root, then the stem, and when the seed bore fruit, it was time to harvest. Within only six months, furniture was all he saw.
The name, Woodand, was created by one of Mohasseb’s designers who shared the founder’s love for wood. The employee thought ‘Wood and…’ Mohasseb explains that it was a case of, “Wood and everything else,” including resin, brass, and bronze amongst others.
Though Mohasseb has always had a kinship for furniture, this is not the only focus of Woodand. He decided to branch out, using his architectural background for support. Now, he seeks to deliver a solution in its entirety, from wall placement, lighting schemes and custom-made furniture. Therefore since inception, the company has produced an assorted offering of tables, shelving units, lamps, seats and sofas that are unconventional, challenging and diverse. The common denominators amongst these pieces are, “Imagination, creativity and fun, because we don’t want to get too serious in what we do.”
As with other artists and designers, there is a complexity in Mohasseb’s personality that he must exploit in order to find creativity. “Your subconscious plays a big role. It is always collecting information, and sometimes there is nothing that comes out. But it’s there; you know it’s there. Concepts and forms [that you design] come from your subconscious. It is confirmation; it confirms what you started from. By the time you mature the idea, you find a process, from the concept to the model you have built,” he reveals. “I go with feelings, with senses. The way you feel is translated in your work.”
Certainly to appreciate the artist you must understand his work. In the case of Mohasseb, one of the most standout pieces is a custom-made coffee table. It is formed from a delicately carved piece of wood – a three-legged design with a finishing that is second to none. In effect it is a table that would provoke within you sheer guilt if ever you put it to use. But it is a piece that exemplifies the inlay-work that Mohasseb tweaked at Ecole Boules in Paris.
It is his strong creative background and love for what he does, that aids him in still managing to create timeless pieces, even with the bombardment of fleeting trends. “I think a trend is a moment,” Mohasseb shares, “It is something limited in time, but from trends you can crate a classical piece that will become an icon. You don’t want to end up in a situation where after a couple of years, the client gets bored of the piece. So that’s why we take time in what we produce.”
Although Woodand has no existing showroom, plans to open one in Paris are already well underway. For now however, the main exhibiting venues of Woodand pieces remain the homes of fortunate clients scattered across the Middle East as well as France, England and Monaco. “We plan to grow, but not to become a mass-production company. We have a group of local craftsmen that we try to protect. Because of technology today, many of those small-business craftsmen disappear.” As such, normally only 9 to 12 pieces of each design are ever created - although one-off pieces are not uncommon either.
The interview ended with an offhand comment by Mohasseb that a comfortable chair is the essence of the home. “We are used to art pieces on the wall, but furniture pieces can have very strong messages too,” he added. And that is the essence of this company: Woodand creates pieces that are certainly artistic, yet most importantly they are also functional.
HYPERLINK "http://www.woodand.com" www.woodand.com
