Acclaimed furniture designer, Frank Pollaro, has been synonymous with luxury furniture for three decades, from commissions for celebrity clients to super yachts. Established in 1988, Pollaro Custom Furniture Inc. handcraft unique, museum-quality pieces from rare and striking woods.
The company’s mantra focuses on quality materials, “our work begins with nature. We start with the finest woods and grain patterns and then combine these spectacular woods with extreme attention to detail in design, construction and finishing”. The result is functional art pieces that are comfortable as well as beautiful.
Their clientele is exclusive, taking on only six to eight commissions a year, which has attracted high-net worth clients such as Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Robert DeNiro, Jerry Seinfeld, and Alec Baldwin. Pollaro’s first superyacht project included over 90 pieces for Larry Ellison’s 88-meter yacht Musashi and his collaboration with Brad Pitt included furnishing three of his residences and co-designing a limited-edition line of furniture in 2012.
Pollaro is based out of an impressive 60,000 square-foot workshop in New Jersey. His team of over 38 master craftsmen favour antique woodworking tools and old American machinery over modern automation for labour-intensive techniques such as casting, gilding, eggshell work, carving and upholstery work. Each piece totals hundreds of hours of work and they estimate each design is 10% material, 90% labour.
His unique pieces require specialist, rare woods, of which Frank Pollaro is a voracious collector. Their showroom boasts a Lignum Theatrum ‘wood theatre’ of perfect wood specimens. It is the largest inventory of unique and storied logs ever assembled. The theatre features a staggering array of over 600 logs, including the largest collection of Macassar ebony in the world, meticulously arranged by colour and grain characteristics. It also includes one million feet of veneer, making a record for the largest collection in the world.
Amongst his collection is a 600 year old white oak tree, referred to as ‘The Witness Tree’ by Pollaro. This tree was witness to a significant lunch hosted by George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette in 1780. It died of natural causes in 2016, having lived for 300 years longer than it’s lifespan, and is the oldest recorded tree of its type in America. Currently stored in his Lignum Theatrum waiting for a special project.
His selection process supersedes that of any other furniture maker, acquiring logs that are custom boule cut, meaning each piece of furniture can be crafted from a single tree, guaranteeing perfect colour harmony throughout the piece. Personally selected by Pollaro, he only selects approximately one in four logs offered.
As a master craftsman, sustainability walks hand in hand with his artistic journey. Pollaro’s ethically sourced timber specimens are all compliant with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Only ever using non-CITES woods. His other special materials include the finest ethically farmed raised hides, including goat, sheep, lizard, snake, alligator and stingray.
Pollaro’s work is inspired by Classical, Art Deco, and Modern design. However, his work is most notably influenced by the work of early 20th century furniture designer, Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, of which he recreates a proportion of his designs, strictly using the original specifications to create perfect replicas.
Rare to the Australian market is a truly unique opportunity to acquire one of Frank Pollaro’s masterpieces. We are delighted to be offering a private collection featuring several pieces of the master furniture maker’s work. Featuring museum quality replicas of Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann’s designs, including a fine shagreen inlaid bur Amboyna ‘Cabanel’ writing desk, originally designed in 1919.
By Chiara Curcio / Head of Decorative Arts, Design & Interiors
December 2024