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Roger Amoros OROS Editions

Published 03 / 02 / 2017

Impossible to start this series of meetings without starting with the paternal fiber of the OROS project. Often hidden on weekends in his traditional carpentry, he creates furniture for those close to him. Story of a father unlike any other.

When did you fall into the world of wood? 

When I was 14 I was offered a hi-fi system with plastic speakers which I didn't like. I wanted to make wooden speakers like the ones I saw in magazines. I went to see my neighbor, an SNCF retiree who tinkered with wood, and who then lent me his workshop so that I could carry out my project.

Why not have dedicated your professional life to it? 

These are the circumstances of life. I was not directly oriented towards manual work. I studied, I took competitions, and then in the family there was no carpenter so it was not a priority, more a hobby.

You are self-taught, your close entourage was neither a cabinetmaker nor a carpenter. What do you remember from this experience? 

A proverb says that a profession cannot be learned, it is stolen. I observed people who did carpentry, I bought a lot of books, especially at Eyrolles, which are quite technical. Then I started to invest in Kity equipment which also provided tutorials for making furniture. Self-taught, it is a form of reflection that I have introduced everywhere. With books, curiosity, you are able to do anything. It is enough to be careful and passionate, to have the desire and the need.

What feeling do you like the most about this activity? 

All stages of carpentry interest me, starting with the design. I like to think, doodle, draw, choose assemblies and dimensions. Then you have to select the wood, buy it or sell it on the trees that I fell right to left. It is quite pleasant to do all the pieces of the puzzle to obtain the final object, to start from the raw material, to face the difficulties and to overcome them to arrive at the finished product which will find its place in our daily life.

How do you choose the wood you are working with?

It depends on the current project. Some projects will support very veined or very light wood. It is therefore a purely aesthetic choice. For furnishing projects, I really like working with chestnut, which is a fairly hard wood and whose grain pleasantly enlivens the panels. When shooting, I choose olive, boxwood and ash, which for example is a light, hard wood with fine growth rings.

You have made many pieces in your workshop. Which one are you most proud of? 

It is not so much pride as the satisfaction of having completed my project. Matching an idea with its realization is the challenge that motivates me. Otherwise I really like sculpture, and I'm starting to have a small collection of coats of arms.

What is your source of inspiration for creating? 

What inspires me are the places I go, my reading, my research. I will discover a form of molding, a symbol, a coat of arms. I integrate them into my imagination, then once in my studio, in my productions.

What are your future plans for OROS? 

On the editorial side, continue to highlight the different techniques. We also have plans to soon launch an eshop to offer our readers small OROS creations - the first will be coffee cups made from different types of wood.

  • Photographer: OROS
  • Location: Béziers, France