Norman Pirollo

As a furni­ture designer and maker at Refined Edge Design and Pirollo Design, I discov­ered a passion for working with wood at an early age. I currently pursue both the design and making of furni­ture as a wood­worker and studio furni­ture maker. Twenty years of exper­tise in working with wood combine with my cabi­net­mak­ing and furni­ture making educa­tion. Studies were also completed at a fine furni­ture school to further my furni­ture making and wood­work­ing skills. I enjoy chal­leng­ing myself with new tech­niques and processes. My furni­ture studio has a mix of hand tools, machin­ery and power tools. With an empha­sis on hand tools, power tools are applied to processes to bring effi­ciency in my furni­ture making. The aesthetic I prefer is a contem­po­rary one of clean, simple lines with honest work­man­ship. Over the past years, my award winning furni­ture has been featured in the follow­ing books: Studio Furni­ture: Today’s Leading Wood­work­ers, Wood Art Today 2, 500 Cabi­nets, Rooted, as well as Fine Wood­work­ing Maga­zine and various inter­na­tional maga­zines. As well, I have been nomi­nated as a final­ist for a NICHE 2013 Award. In past years, four of my books have been published includ­ing​“Wood­work­ing: From Design To Making”,​“Start Your Own Wood­work­ing Busi­ness”,​“From Hi-Tech to Lo-Tech: A Wood­work­er’s Journey”, and​“The Wood Artist: Creat­ing Art Through Wood”. I currently operate my furni­ture design studio in a country setting outside Ottawa, Ontario where I teach wood­work­ing skills, create wood­work­ing instruc­tional courses, as well as design­ and create contem­po­rary-styled furni­ture. Through my educa­tional site www​.wood​skills​.com, I take on a wood­work­ing educa­tor role in dissem­i­nat­ing wood­work­ing related courses, classes and books.