RUDABEGA

Rudabega is a contemporary design and fabrication studio founded by Conor Byrne and Jason Zawitkowski producing furniture, objects, architectural elements and spaces. Their collaborative work is an evolving dialogue between their uniquely developed perspectives and their shared approach to holistic design thinking. Working primarily in durable natural materials, their practice reveres traditional methods of production while continuously checking them with an enthusiasm for the avant-garde. Their aesthetic - with a form language rooted in pragmatic constraints and a focus on materiality and joints - generates a framework to design and build objects and spaces of presence, significance and silence.

Jason studied Industrial Design and Architecture at Virginia Tech before working as an architect and furniture designer/maker at Gronning Architects in Washington, DC. Afterwards he created Zawitkowski Design an architectural and design consultancy serving architects, designers and private clients. Jason has also taught industrial design at Appalachian State University.

Conor studied Environmental Science at Virginia Tech while apprenticing with Trev Smith, a sawyer and furniture maker, of Happy Hollow Woods in Blacksburg, VA. After school he started Zag Joinery designing and building furniture with traditional methods of joinery while continuing to cultivate the woods as a sawyer.