Who’s Luz?

Luz de Mano is Jorge Rafael Moawad, that's me, self-taught specialty craftsman. I believe there is real sanctity in our surrounding space, as sacred as the time we spend in it. To merely exist in it does not suffice. To live authentically is the call – to leverage our nature and our senses. These instincts have guided my training in designing and making furniture since I could remember.

 
In the talk about form and function, I like to talk about vibe as it precedes, proceeds, and transcends both. Vibe tucks into the rhythm and feel of the space, and vice versa. Vibe may articulate a sense of being or purpose. Vibe may satisfy the need to claim authenticity and be artistic. And if you feel it, though the furniture stays, you take it with you wherever you go. So let's let vibe inform the design process.

What I love most about creating furniture is the pursuit of the most unique solution – unique for you, your space, your vibe. Where's it going, for whom, what’s it going to do, all demand that I suspend most of what I know and start from scratch. A new adventure for both of us in any collaboration.

Most of what you see in my folio would never have been imagined on my own. Clients, friends, fuel a great amount of ideas through our interactions. The rest comes from a different source difficult to describe in words, but made available as long as we make room for it. That’s Luz de Mano, too.

I live and work in my home studio in Pomona, California, in a quiet neighborhood along Los Angeles County's east edge. My century-old, modern-movement bungalow offers tremendous inspiration for furniture design. It is a lab for form, function, material, comfort, and, of course, vibe. All in all, LdM is master-quality production with a creative priority and a reasonable price.