Having grown up around his carpenter father’s workshop, John Procario brought his love of woodworking to the world of design. After studying sculpture in graduate school, Procario developed a unique aesthetic that influences his sculptural furniture and lighting. This aesthetic began with the idea of wood as metaphor for the human body. Just like bone or muscle, wood will bend comfortably to a point, then snap. Procario pushes the limit of breakage to create a sense of strain in the otherwise fluid gestures of his wooden works. Conceptually, this allows beauty to be the product of stress.

Procario’s sculptural lighting is composed of micro-laminated, cold-pressed bent wood. Procario begins his process by twisting ribbons of paper to explore potential designs. However, rather than using these models to control the wood’s shape, he allows the wood to form the shape it pleases. In this way, the artistic process becomes a collaboration between the artist and the wood’s respective personalities. The outcome is an organic, fluid design balanced with a sense of motion.