About Robert Lippoth

Fine Local Hawaiian Wood Furniture

Robert Lippoth's koa wood pieces are crafted as both sculptural art pieces and fine furniture. Robert's Hawaiian Wood Furniture is exhibited at the Hana Coast Gallery, the Dennis Williams Gallery, and the Sutrov Gallery in Maui, Hawaii. His koa furniture has been internationally commissioned throughout the Pacific Rim and the mainland. Robert has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Woodworking and Furniture Design from Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. His expertise also includes Interior Design, and Architectural Millwork

“Often it is in nature that I find most inspiration. Even a single blade of grass represents a perfect example of a subtle curve and gentle taper. When I design a piece I think of it as sculpture in the format of furniture. My primary goal is to delight the viewer with furniture that is fresh, unique, alive and playful. Furniture that irresistibly pulls the viewer in for a closer look and the desire to touch. The individual love and attention I give to each piece is evident in their aura and spirit. These pieces have heirloom quality.”

ABOUT KOA WOODS

The Koa Tree is one of the fastest-growing Hawaiian trees, capable of reaching over 20 feet in five years, but still requires 50 years or more to reach the size required by most users, making farming of koa difficult.

Today Koa is valued for furniture, guitars, boxes, paneling and bowl turning. It is interesting to note that Hawaiians of earlier times did not use it for bowls or platters because of an unpleasant flavor associated with the wood.The reddish wood is highly prized for use in wood carving, musical instruments, and furniture. Koa is also a tonewood, often used in the construction of ukuleles, acoustic guitars, the Weissenborn-style Hawaiian steel guitar and longboards. BC Rich used them on their electric guitars as well, and still use them as a veneer topwood on certain models.

Koa is the largest endemic tree in Hawai'I-the species exists naturally nowhere else in the world. It is the fastest growing of Hawaii's valuable hardwoods. It can grow as much as an inch in diameter per year, reaching 100 feet in height, attaining a trunk diameter of 5 feet or more. It was historically the material of choice for carved ocean-going canoes. Koa wood is the most prized cabinet and furniture wood in Hawai'i. Colors range from light brown to deep red/brown hues. Highly figured koa is sought after for use in fine furniture, musical instruments, crafts, gunstocks, and knife handles. Koa has weight and strength properties similar to black walnut. It is a moderately heavy wood (specific gravity .55). It is stable, works well, and takes an exceptionally rich, deeply reflective glow when finished with oils and modern varnish or laquer.

Koa is the best known of the endemic Hawaiian woods. It is recognized world wide for it's remarkable variety of grain figure which ranges from plain, to curly, to deep fiddleback. The color can go from reds to chocolate browns, with the sap wood sometimes even a bleached white. The grain is fine and the texture medium coarse, but it is the figuring that sets Koa into a class of it's own.

Chatoyancy is a property that is usually attributed to certain gems, the cats eye effect or shimmer which gives a senseof depth in the gem. This property can also be used to describe some of the more dramatic pieces of curly, tigerstripe and fiddleback Koa. This figuring gives the wood a three dimensional quality; and depending on from what angle one views the wood, it can take on several completely different characters.

The Koa wood furniture that Robert Lippoth uses in his work comes from standing deadfalls.

 

EDUCATION:

ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Woodworking and Furniture Design Degree completed May, 1998, GPA 3.4

EXHIBITS:

Honor Show at Bevier Gallery

1996, 1997 and  1998

Exhibition of Fine Furniture at Bausch & Lomb World Headquarters Gallery

1998

International Woodworking Fair, Design Emphasis. Robert Lippoth won first place, seating category

1998

Featured in Modern Woodworking Magazine

2000

Hawaii Craftsmen, state wide juried exhibition

2001

Hawaii Forest Industry Association, Wood show Honolulu

1998, 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2006.

Robert won Honorable Mention award in the Wood show

2001 and 2005

Art Maui, a juried exhibition,

2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007

Inspired hands, Maui Woodworker's Guild show

2002, 2003 and 2006

Table for Two, A show of Fine Furniture, Art and Original Jewelry.        Sutrov Gallery,   149 Hana Hwy, Paia

2007

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