Portuguese Roots Chair
The Portuguese Roots Chair is a 2013 rework by the designer Alexandre Caldas for AROUNDtheTREE of a chair that begins in 1953 with Gonçalo Rodrigues dos Santos, a Portuguese master craftsman. The angular back leg was the engineering problem: it puts torsional forces through the frame, and drove the choice of timber and the way the chair goes together. It is sold in walnut, ash, black ash or muttene, with seats in leather, velvet, cork or straw.
It took a Silver A' Design Award in 2014, and the side table beside it is the same maker's Portuguese Roots Table, its tripod base drawn from 1950s terrace tables and made to stand steady on the slopes of Portuguese cobblestone footpaths.
AROUNDtheTREE
AROUNDtheTREE is a Portuguese furniture brand in Porto with a Lisbon showroom by appointment, founded by Soraia Rangel, working in FSC certified timber finished only in natural fruit based oils. Alexandre Caldas, born 1974 into a family of makers and trained first in mechanics, is its lead designer.
Alexandre Caldas for AROUNDtheTREE (@aroundthetreedesign). Seen via @artsystock.
The picture comes from this post on Instagram.
Researched August 2026. I credit each piece as carefully as I can; if you know more about this one, message me on Instagram.