Surface & Architecture Workshop (SAAW Inc), founded in 1998, is a multi-disciplinary design firm specializing in hand-crafted commissions. Projects include architecture, interiors, furniture, art, and finishwork. We have completed site work throughout the United States, Canada, and Great Britain.
Our staff includes architects, artists, and craftspeople. We design, draw, paint, plaster, weld, carve, cast, install, and that’s just the beginning. With development studios and a diverse team of artisans, SAAW Inc has skills and capacities to solve unique design challenges and create compelling spaces.
Our staff works collaboratively. We believe the skills of a craftsperson, designer, and artist are not exclusive to any industry. The skill of a designer informs the work of a craftsperson; the skill of an artist informs the work of a designer. We cultivate inspiration by blending fields, crossing boundaries, and engaging multiple areas of expertise for ideas and information.
The diverse nature of the firm’s commissions requires a flexible creative process. The process is not preconceived, rather, it allows for consideration and refinement throughout the crafting, fabrication and installation stages.
We are concerned with the physical act of creation, and believe in the use of human senses to guide quality. We seek to decelerate the industrialization of today’s manufacturing and return control to the inventions of the hand.
