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Aleksander Oniszh

  • Warsaw , Poland

Sculpted Forms In Quiet Tension

The Bio

Aleksander Oniszh is a Warsaw-based designer and craftsman whose work explores the meeting point between intuition and discipline. Trained in architecture and shaped by years of hands-on experimentation, he approaches wood as a living material — something to be uncovered rather than controlled. His process is one of quiet subtraction: cutting, reacting, and allowing the form to emerge through gesture and grain. Rooted in deep respect for craft and the imperfect logic of nature, his objects embody a kind of calm tension — sculptural yet tactile, precise yet instinctive.

Working from his studio on the edge of a forest, Oniszh treats making as both a physical and reflective act. His finishes, born from alchemical reactions of wood, air, and time, reveal depth rather than surface. Each piece carries the trace of process — an imprint of movement and stillness intertwined. Beyond function, his work is an ongoing dialogue between material, memory, and presence — an honest, unhurried pursuit of form that feels both ancient and entirely his own.

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The Products
  • Doodle Stool Doodle Stool
    • Doodle Stool
    • 2.650 EUR
    • Aleksander Oniszh
    • ex. VAT
  • Candle Holders Candle Holders
    • Candle Holders
    • 1.250 EUR
    • Aleksander Oniszh
    • ex. VAT
  • Split Table Split Table
    • Split Table
    • 12.500 EUR
    • Aleksander Oniszh
    • ex. VAT
  • Folly Chair Folly Chair
    • Folly Chair
    • 4.750 EUR
    • Aleksander Oniszh
    • ex. VAT

The Conversation

You live and work outside the city. How does that affect your work?

I live on the edge of a forest. The city exhausts me — I’m oversaturated with culture and stimuli. After a day in London galleries, I feel like I’ve been under a strobe light. In nature, everything evaporates from me. That’s why I chose a studio away from the city. I want what I absorb to have space to work inside me, not to be drowned out.

Marysia Oniszh at her office room.

Your house and studio are also a project. How did that space come to life?

Marysia, my wife, and I built the house over a year and a half. She plans precisely, I work spatially. I moved in before it was finished and started working right away. It’s not a 9-to-5 job. Sometimes I work three hours, then take a walk with the dog, come back, check on the glue, and finish in the evening. I need breaks and flexibility.

Sometimes I’m physically exhausted, but this rhythm suits me. And that’s a good way to end: the place where I live and work is an extension of my objects — just as changeable, calm, and stubborn.

Your furniture looks as if it were carved in movement. How do you work with the material?

For me, it’s a process of subtraction, not addition. I remove layers, I work intuitively. When I cut, things often change, and a new form emerges from that. After I get planks from the sawmill, I sketch on them with ink and charcoal, dissect them looking for emerging patterns and figures; build up a mass out of them and then cut it into a shape - it’s like building anew from once alive and functioning organism - a tree, it’s like building a Frankenstein (laughs)... I avoid classic joinery. I want the object to resemble a tree in some way — with its natural imperfections. We are human, and that matters to me.

Where did your fascination with wood come from?

I grew up… under the table. There were a lot of old pieces of furniture at home, and as a kid I would sit underneath and look at their structure. In those old objects, nothing was hidden — and I loved that honesty. I want my furniture to be tactile. If you look under old tables, you’ll see traces: holes, cuts, supports. I learned woodworking from scratch, reading books, and trying Japanese cutting techniques. I’m not a precision freak — I have ADHD and a lot of parallel threads — but I can bring things to the finish line. In the beginning, I’d spend hours on a single detail. Today I know I can work more loosely and still achieve the same result. My process starts with the band saw and offcuts — it’s like sketching in wood. That first cut is intuitive. Then I build everything around it.

Do you remember when I once called you an “emerging designer”? But your creative path has actually been going on for quite a while now.

Yes, I remember. The term “young designer” always makes me smile a bit. I’m not that young anymore, but I’m not old either. I’m somewhere in between. I still have this energy for searching, for being open to different places and experiences. I don’t need to define myself on any particular axis of age or status. I’ve built up a lot of workshop experience, and I’ve learned discipline. It’s like learning a language: once you master the grammar and vocabulary, you can speak freely. It’s the same with craft — I’ve gained fluency, I can express myself through material. When you’re 25–27 years old, you analyze everything, test directions. Now I know that was the stage of searching for my language. And today, I can speak it.

Featured product or designer at work

Work with Aleksander

Working with Aleksander is a collaborative process rooted in conversation. Together, through The Orb, we develop pieces that grow out of context, material, and use—allowing ideas to evolve thoughtfully and with precision.
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