There's something about the name "Nicolai Czum" that seems apropos of the Pitch Round Table. The sense of dynamism, the endlessly encircling laminates of wood, the excitable and slightly dizzying aesthetic seem to have been tailor made for a designer whose last name is, ostensibly, a homophone for "Zoom." Alas, the designer's name has only been mis-appropriated on the web as the somewhat comic-bookish "Czum," when in fact his own web page introduces him as the Chicago-born and bred "Nicolai Czumaj-Bront,"-an expressive sort who believes that "design should be about passion and love for life, to find new ways to create beauty, to tell stories, to care, to inspire, to challenge ideas, and to solve problems. Design should not be dictated by trends nor should it remain in a particular style or field."

Pitch Stool and Round Table. Designed by Nicolai Czumaj-Bront.

A New Aesthetic for Reclaimed Wood

Czumaj-Bront's Pitch Series shows every evidence of conforming to the above. The designer's objective with the series of stools and tables is none other than reconciling the patina of age with bold youth, the practiced manipulation of material with the varied tones of nature, the exactitude of precision machining with the spontaneity of weathered wood. Each of the items in the Pitch Series features reclaimed wood that Czumaj-Bront has re-cast as furnishings that evince a profound appreciation for the many vintages of wood while still conveying a contemporary appeal.

Pitch Round Table. Designed by Nicolai Czumaj-Bront.

Pitch Black. Designed by Nicolai Czumaj-Bront.

Pitch Stool and Round Table. Designed by Nicolai Czumaj-Bront.

The designer characterizes his process as highlighting "the beauty and character from the variation in color… signs of wear are exposed to produce a highly precise yet imperfect design." The notion of "precision meets imperfection" is palpable in each Pitch. The original Pitch Stool is one of a kind, every time-each sharing the same basic shape yet evincing significant variation in the size and shape of its component wooden pieces. The Pitch Round Table showcases the variety inherent in a single species of wood, as Czumaj-Bront machines away the weathered and warped ends to display the beautiful intrinsic interiors of each laminate. And Pitch Black is a limited edition version of the original stool, painted such to suggest carbonization, or the re-appropriated detritus of some ancient conflagration.

Via PicoCool.