About Pure Timber, the Extreme Wood Bending company, (Fluted Beams LLC)
Pure Timber produces bendable hardwood and bentwood products and fabrications using a proprietary Extreme Wood Bending™ process that produces the worlds most dramatic and ambitions bentwood parts from thick, solid hardwoods.
If this is your first visit to the Pure Timber website, be prepared to experience a paradigm shift in large scale, Extreme Wood Bending...Enjoy!.
Pure Timber is owned and managed by Christopher (Oz) Mroz (BS, MS, MBA) in Gig Harbor, Washington, USA. Oz is a nickname pronounced as oz, as in wizzard of. This came about as an obvious derivation of the last name, but stuck more firmly after a customer good naturedly accused Mroz of witchcraft in his ability to bend thick solid hardwood by hand. That, and his shop tends to resemble a combination science lab and witches brew, complete with boiling cauldrens - (the autoclaves), mysterious, ticking and groaning machines and wood that takes on most unnatural shapes.
Mroz is Canadian, but has been a permanent resident of the USA since 1994. With a background in Arts, Sciences and Business, Mroz invented the Fluted Beam while developing a lightweight and strong curved rail for a boat building project. The idea was scaled up to architectural sized projects including prototypes for Frank Gehry and Sir Richard Rogers projects. Other Extreme Bent Wood products are being utilized for grid shell buildings, interior landscape designs, trellis, canopies, curved walls, curved surfaces, and other large scale hardwood architectural fabrications.
Mroz also consults with universities, engineers, architects and designers regarding his specialized field of architectural extreme bent wood fabrication, and guest lectures on the subject at industry trade and architectural association events. Recently, Mroz has spoken at the annual meeting of the American Furniture Society, the American Timber framers Guild, and at the Wood Construction Center in Seattle.
Mroz spends most of his time developing and making products using his Extreme Wood Bending Techniques. These products and projects are being seen as significant in the world of architecture and design, and are being featured in books on new materials and numerous magazine articles. The projects will be as easily identified visually as the creations and fabrication techniques of Chris Mroz as they were for Thonet, Eames, Tiffany and Chihuly. Eventually, it could become its own distinctive style, much like "Craftsman", "Art Deco" and "Modernist" became immediately identifiable styles. One of his projects was featured on CNBC television in their program called “High Net Worth”, see... http://www.flutedbeams.com/news.html. Mroz has also been published in several primary scientific research journals in the subjects of plant physiology and plant biochemistry and collaborates with academic research institutions and wood science research teams.
Please contact Chris Mroz for consulting, speaking or fabrication assignments at oz@puretimber.com or by calling 1-253-988-2046.
Consulting Projects:
Academic: ·University of Alberta, Department of Art and Design, Canada ·American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates ·Rochester Institute of Technology, School for American Crafts, USA ·Pratt Fine Arts Center, Seattle, USA ·Yale University School of Art, USA ·University of Washington, School of the Arts, Seattle, USA
Architectural groups or projects: ·Gehry Partners, Los Angeles, USA. Project: Hall Wines Hospitality Buildings ·Gehry Partners, NY, USA. Project: Beekman Tower, Port Cochere ·Martha Schwartz Inc, London, UK. Project: Parc1, Seoul, Korea, senior architect Sir Richard Rogers ·B+U, LLP, Scott Urio Principal/Partner, Los Angeles, USA ·John G Waite Associates, NY, USA. Project: US Department of the Interior, Park Service, Alexander Hamilton historic renovation. ·UrbanAdd, Seattle, USA. Jim Brown, Principal, formerly with Rem Koolhaas ·ELKUS MANFREDI ARCHITECTS, Boston. Project: Architectural Scale bent wood wall ·Timbercraft, Port Townsend, USA. Chris Gunter, AIA. Project: Timber frame structure ·BERESFORD ARCHITECTS LLC, Pheonix, USA. Project: Williams, AZ ·William Rawn Associates, Architects, Boston, USA. and IRG, New Hampton, USA. Project: Northeastern University, Blackman Auditorium ·The Laurelrock Company, Dickson DeMarche, Landscape Architects, Wilton, CT, USA. Project: Owens Residence Trellis/Garden ·Couture Design Associates, Inc. Providence, RI, USA. Project: American Renaissance Water Garden, Bellevue House, Newport, RI ·Show Motion, NY, USA. Project: Mohegan Casino ·Haskell Architects and Engineers, Jacksonville, FL, USA. Project: Turbomeca Entry ·The Moinian Group, NY, USA. Project: W Hotel Sky Lobby
In addition to consulting and shipping throughout the US, Fluted Beams and Mroz have also consulted and shipped their engineered wood products throughout the world, including recently to: ·Thailand ·Australia ·United Arab Emirates ·Iraq ·Belgium ·England ·Italy ·New Zealand ·Israel ·Columbia ·Canada
