Artisan, hand-crafted works of art created from exotic and locally sourced woodTorno Furniture
Randall Torno has been designing and creating furniture since his high school years. While using wood as a building material for boats, he discovered a parallel fascination with functional objects for the home. Subsequently, during his years as a wood model maker (journeyman) with Ford Motor Company, his interest and expertise in wooden objects increased. Torno Woodworks has recently received several commissions for custom furniture, tables made from locally sourced walnut trees. These tables will grace the living rooms of a modernist design home. The unique qualities of walnut spurred his interest in exploring techniques such as live edge and specialized joinery (box joint) that he utilizes during the fabrication process. As always, design is paramount in this process. See this testimonial from one of our clients: "If you are lucky enough to employ the furniture making services of Randy Torno, your home furnishings will come alive with beautiful wood, elegant styles, and finishes that will tell a story to the onlooker. Although most of us purchase furniture that is ready made, Randy Torno does just the opposite. From my first meeting with Randy, we discussed my vision of style, mood, finish, and design of furniture in the new modern home I was building. Randy uses his engineering and master woodworking skills to execute and implement his customer’s vision of solid wood furniture. He also supplies the needed assistance to guide and direct furniture design. As you can see from the above photos, I gave my ideas to Randy and he took those ideas and created exquisite and sublime pieces of furniture. In addition, Randy also crafted solid wood stair treads, book shelves, and wainscoting for my home. Through all of these wood creations, Randy listened to my ideas and patiently worked through the give and take process to come to a finished product. I am proud and enriched from my experience with Randy. Through his furnishings, he has given my home a story with substance and meaning!"
Torno Toys
Hand crafted unique wooden toys are the newest component of the offerings of Torno Woodworks. From helicopters to biplanes, from cars to seaplanes, from giraffes to rabbits, from dinosaurs to dolphins, Randall’s artistic and engineering skills have again merged as a result of his now 18 month old grandson. A visit this summer brought play into the fore of his vision and influenced him to focus his energies on antique and contemporary toys created again of local and exotic wood with an orange juice and beeswax finish rendering them child friendly!
News/Special Events
CoE alum Randy Torno combines art and engineering to make custom, handcrafted boats.
Read The Michigan Engineer article by Ali Cabadas here.
Promotional Video
Watch our promotional video which was produced by Sophia Dai, Kyle Cai, Kitty Crowley and Christine Peplow, students in the Fall 2016 "Designing Persuasive Communications" course in the Ross School of Business and the School of Communications at the University of Michigan
