Hi! My name is Alex Gray and Studio Colibri is my furniture and design project. I’ve built lots of things in my life - cars, houses, circuits, gardens - but there’s something special about furniture. You interact with furniture. It’s functional, a part of your daily life. I believe furniture is more than just utilitarian - it defines the aesthetic, the flow, and the spirit of a space. It says something about the owner, demonstrates who they are. The interior of your home is a reflection of yourself, but you also reflect the space around you. Connection to place is important. My furniture is made with many local materials and crafted to represent the spirit of dark forests in the southern Appalachian mountains - gnarled wood contrasted with straight lines, rusted sheets of metal against a smooth satin finish. New and old, life and death, decay and rebirth. That’s life - and that’s the forest.

I am from Atlanta and lived there until I graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I’d planned on getting a job designing and building racecars, which had been most of my experience up to that point. I had a major life shift when I started to evaluate what I like doing and what matters most to me. I started reading about ecological destruction and decided not to apply to any more engineering jobs. Instead, I moved to the mountains and began learning about sustainability, ecosystem restoration, and community building, trying to figure out my place in the world and how I could make a difference. I lived in Rabun County, North Georgia for a while and then moved to Joshua Tree, California. From there I moved to Seattle, Washington, where I found my passions both for building furniture and for farming and gardening. I currently live in Madison County, North Carolina. Everywhere I have lived has influenced the way I see the world as well as my artistic style, from the apocalyptic metal art of the desert to the dark forests of the mountains.

When I’m not building furniture, my passions lie at the confluence of ecosystem restoration, regenerative agriculture, and community building. I am currently working on soil regeneration and sustainable agricultural research. I also teach a class at Appalachian State on biochar and regularly host workshops on soil regeneration and biochar. I am really interested in building a healthy, harmonious future where people share greater connection to each other and to the Earth. I think the loss of connection has caused most of the problems we face today and hope I can help rebuild a brighter future. I focus on organic themes in my furniture because I feel they ground people, connecting them to place. Part of a sustainable future is rekindling our relationship with the rest of the natural world. I hope my furniture can help do that.