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: Peter Stevens
“The Sisters of the Road’s logo, three X’s in a circle, is adapted from the symbol used by the homeless to mark a place for good food and hospitality. I carved the symbol meaning ‘this is the place’ into the back rest of my chair, as in the place to sit comfortably.”