In March this year Australian furniture designer/maker Rohan Ward, currently living in the USA, received a very special commission, from Barack Obama no less.
'I was literally on a job delivering a piece when I got a call. It was a lady from the State Department. She said "We would love you to build a table for the President of the United States to give to the French President as a gift on behalf of America". I was pretty dumbfounded and thought, what an amazing opportunity.
'It was about making something stately and fine, and making something that brought the two countries together in a symbolic way', Rohan said. ‘It’s completely surreal to think I was making a piece for the president.’
Rohan Ward studied Woodworking & Furniture Design under the late George Ingham at Australian National University’s Canberra School of Art from 1995 to 1999. After graduating, Rohan ran his own custom furniture business in Australia’s capital of Canberra and after travelling eventually relocated with his wife to her hometown of Chicago in 2006.
Learn more about Rohan Ward here, and see the piece he made in the video below.
The President's Table from Gabe Hatfield on Vimeo.