Gary Rogowoski and graduates of his Northwest Woodworking Studio Mastery Program held a fundraising chair auction to benefit the Sisters of the Road Café (sistersoftheroad.org), a restaurant for the homeless of Portland, Ore. The goal was to create a unique chair from a common premise: Imagine you found a chair on the side of the road and fixed it up. Rogowski and his assistant milled the beech frames and the laminated back rests, cut the slip tenons, and shipped sets of four legs, six rails, and a back rest to his students across the country. “Chairs by the Roadside” featured 18 chairs, half of which were sold during the event, raising more than $10,000.

Woodworker: Gary Rogowoski
“I designed this chair to be fun and wanted it to be bright like the Bird of Paradise plant with the feeling of movement like the bird. Most of all, I wanted to leave my normal realm of serious design and make a functional piece that makes you smile.”