Canadian Designer Spotlight: Brent Comber

Brent Comber is an innovative Canadian furniture maker who uses local woods to produce a variety of designs. I first became aware of his work through his Alder series. He dries and fastens alder branches and then carves the piles into cubic shapes. By combining organic materials with geometric lines he produces furniture with a very dynamic aesthetic. I particularly like the idea of using alder - a sustainable wood- that growns like a weed in most places in Canada. My husband is always battling alder bush growth near our summer house in Newfoundland. Alders grow quickly into dense stands and left alone they will overtake an area.

Brent Comber alder stools and bench

Round alder stools

54 inch Alder disk at White Horses Spa

This 54” Alder Disk hung in White Horses Spa at Doonbeg Golf Lodge, Ireland. While the same materials used in Comber's furniture pieces are used in the disk, the viewer is engaged in a different way, looking directly at the patterns and rhythms that emerge at eye level. The piece is convex in shape and the light changes depending on time of day and the viewing angle similar to the way the light is filtered in a forest.

Baumkuchn Cafe, Tokyo, "log cake"

In German, Baumkuchn translates literally as “tree cake” or “log cake”. This European dessert is also popular in Japan, and is the namesake for this cafe in Tokyo. The 120 foot feature wall, texturally stunning and simplistically beautiful, serves as a cohesive element in the design of this small space.