One to Watch: Wood-Bending Designer Mike Randall

Vancouver Island designer Mike Randall has always been drawn to the outdoors, and fell in love with wood-bending during his time in the Fine Furniture program at Victoria’s Camosun College. Randall is neurodiverse, and explains that his ability to visualize structures in 3D, think on the fly and obsess over design lends itself to his boundary-pushing work. “Once I discovered how design really clicked for me and how my brain loved the challenge, puzzle and art of it all, I felt like I’d finally found my passion and purpose,” he says.

Randall combines organic and built referents to create minimalist, mid-century modern pieces that have found homes in commercial and residential spaces from coast to coast (think Victoria to Montreal and New York). The natural component of his work goes beyond the design: the woodworker uses sustainably sourced hardwood and glues and finishings he’s termed “home friendly” (they’re free from harsh chemicals) in all his pieces in an effort to do good for the planet. “If we look after our immediate environment, global issues will become easier to manage,” Randall says. His furniture and lighting (including a hand-carved ash table, stark black walnut floor lamps and a sleek waterfall bar table) feels organic yet innovative: a beautiful mix of materiality and minimalism.

The designer is inspired by the clients he works with, too—for one Victoria client with a musical background, he created a custom violin-inspired light fixture with a bent laminated frame, steam-bent strings and rusted steel discs. “Truly understanding what drives my client’s vision—and getting to know some of their background, childhood stories or influences from their past—goes a long way to creating the ‘right’ piece for them,” says the designer.