{"id":504974,"date":"2026-01-10T00:59:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T00:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/504974\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T00:59:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T00:59:27","slug":"designers-craft-wooden-furniture-to-mark-la-wildfires-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/504974\/","title":{"rendered":"Designers craft wooden furniture to mark LA wildfires anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

In January 2025, wildfires tore through Los Angeles<\/a>, devastating the neighbourhoods of Altadena and the Pacific Palisades in particular, and causing widespread damage. 30 people lost their lives, and more than 16,000 homes and structures were burned.<\/p>\n

A year later, the LA design and art gallery Marta is presenting a group show of crafted wooden furniture made from trees cleared from Altadena after the Eaton Fire. Titled \u2018From the Upper Valley in the Foothills<\/a>\u2019 (until 31 January 2026), and organised with the sculptor and designer Vince Skelly, the show celebrates the resilience and the regenerative potential of wood, but also of LA\u2019s communities.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\"wooden\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Courtesy Vince Skelly – Marta LA)<\/p>\n

Two dozen designers from the city, each with their own experiences of the fires, have participated. \u2018I wanted the show to feel like a true community response to the fires, so we focused on featuring local designers and artists,\u2019 explains Skelly.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The participants partnered with Angel City Lumber, which sources locally downed trees for use in community projects. The lumber mill collected wood cleared from Altadena, including Aleppo pine, cedar, coastal live oak and shamel ash.<\/p>\n

Each individual or duo of makers was asked to transform the wood into objects of rest and contemplation. 30% of all proceeds from sales of the objects at the show is being donated to the non-profit organisation Greenline Housing to aid in ongoing rebuilding efforts in Altadena.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Wooden\n<\/p>\n

Stool carved from Aleppo pine by Sam Klemick<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Courtesy Sam Klemick – Marta LA)<\/p>\n

Sam Klemick \u2013 one of the Wallpaper* USA 400<\/a> \u2013 hand-carved a stool out of Aleppo pine, designed to resemble fabric draped over a small table. To address the naturally occurring checks in the wood, she added small wooden \u2018patches\u2019 that prevent cracks from expanding, and referencing the patchwork techniques she uses in her upholstery work.<\/p>\n

\u2018Patchworking, to me, is about mending something that is broken or needs repair,\u2019 says Klemick. \u2018That idea became especially meaningful as I reflected on the source of the lumber used for the show and its connection to the Altadena community.\u2019<\/p>\n

Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Wooden\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Courtesy Sam Klemick – Marta LA)<\/p>\n

Klemick says she will \u2018never forget\u2019 the morning after the fires began. \u2018The sky was dark and grey and ash rained down heavily as I walked to my car. I was fortunate to live outside the evacuation zone, but I still headed to a friend\u2019s house to hunker down. It was all so surreal; if you didn\u2019t lose your home, you had a close friend that did.\u2019<\/p>\n

For her, the show \u2018creates a space to remember and reflect \u2013 and not move on like business as usual,\u2019 she says. \u2018It\u2019s easy for people to come together immediately after something like this happens, but the endurance of support a year later, and for years to come, also really matters.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n

\"carved\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Courtesy Vincent Pocsik – Marta LA)<\/p>\n

Artist and designer Vincent Pocsik, who often depicts human body parts in his sculptural and furniture works, made a stool out of cedar and cherry wood, featuring ears. \u2018I believe wood has a very high absorption of energy,\u2019 he says. \u2018Since this piece of cedar was salvaged from the fires I knew it would be holding so much of that energy and I wanted to honour that.\u2019 The inclusion of ears signifies the \u2018absorption and understanding\u2019 that the material holds, he explains.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think a show like this does speak to the resilience of this city and its creative community, as well as the resilience of humans in general,\u2019 says Pocsik. \u2018If the wood is telling a story in this show, it is saying that it survived and still has life to give.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n

\u2018If the wood is telling a story in this show, it is saying that it survived and still has life to give\u2019<\/p>\n

Vincent Pocsik<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

\"Block\n<\/p>\n

Rachel Shillander\u2019s \u2018Power Pole\u2019<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Courtesy Rachel Shillander – Marta LA)<\/p>\n

Architect-designer Rachel Shillander\u2019s piece, \u2018Power Pole\u2019, is a stool made from a single salvaged block of coastal live oak. The surface is worked, or as she explains, \u2018embroidered\u2019 with nails, creating shimmering images and text. Featured are the lyrics to a folk song commonly associated with the Great Chicago<\/a> Fire of 1871, \u2018Old Lady Leary\u2019, but rewritten for the Los Angeles fires. Elsewhere Shillander depicts flames and a compass.<\/p>\n

\u2018The work draws on folklore, nostalgia, and the way societies narrate catastrophe,\u2019 she says. \u2018Visually, the stool recalls the base of a neighbourhood power pole, layered over time with nails, notices, flyers and information, recording community life.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n

\"Wooden\n<\/p>\n

Bench by Shin Okuda and Kristin Dickson-Okuda <\/p>\n

(Image credit: Courtesy Shin Okuda – Marta LA)<\/p>\n

Shin Okuda, founder of design studio Waka Waka, worked with his textile designer wife Kristin Dickson-Okuda to create a bench from a trunk section of an ash tree. Featuring a single decorative cushion, the minimally crafted bench provides a place to rest close to the ground.<\/p>\n

\n

\"furniture\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Courtesy Ryan Belli – Marta LA)<\/p>\n

Designer Ryan Belli, meanwhile, created a furniture piece out of Ponderosa pine that acts both as bench and monument, with a boulder-like form for sitting on and a carved \u2018gravestone\u2019 topped by a small aluminium urn that symbolises the fragility of life. \u2018The devastating fires provided a terrifying reminder of the temporal nature of all things,\u2019 says Belli. His takeaway: \u2018Be nice to yourself and others.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018From the Upper Valley in the Foothills\u2019 is on view at Marta, LA<\/a>, until 31 January 2026<\/p>\n

3021 Rowena Avenue, Los Angeles, California<\/a>, 90039 \u2013 2004<\/p>\n

\n

\"furniture\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Courtesy Asher Gillman – Marta La)<\/p>\n

\n

\"furniture\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Courtesy Ellie Richards – Marta LA)<\/p>\n

\n

\"furniture\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Courtesy Marley White – Marta LA)<\/p>\n

\n

\"furniture\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Courtesy Snyder DePass – Marta LA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In January 2025, wildfires tore through Los Angeles, devastating the neighbourhoods of Altadena and the Pacific Palisades in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":504975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-504974","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115868098214885290","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}