Wood and metal fabricator Scott Viloria, the brains and brawn behind Hanai Works, welcomes me at his workshop in an industrial park in Wahiawā. Oversized machines, tables, and tools help to create his line of sleek and minimalist furniture and home décor. While his work may appear simple in concept, it is often difficult in execution, and it always highlights the materials. Large slabs of imported walnut rest against the wall, acclimating to Hawai‘i’s temperature and humidity before being formed into striking dining tables and cabinets, custom-made for private clients or high-end design firms. Smaller pieces of locally sourced ‘ōhi‘a lehua (native Hawaiian hardwood) and lychee — the latter a gnarled stump donated by a local grandmother from the yard of the house she lived in — await transformation.

For Viloria, the materials themselves — the shape, size, and grain of the wood and type of metal — speak to what a piece can become. Inspiration comes from many sources: a material he’d like to incorporate. Current and past artists’ work. How the piece’s ultimate location affects its design. How his grandfather might have built it. “I guess that’s how my brain is wired. It’s kind of all over the place, and then I get fixated on certain things, and I just kind of run with where this design takes me,” he explains. “It’s more like the practice of sculpture than it is the practice of exactly how I want to build a piece.” Viloria admires artists who are unbothered by trends. “I try to stay in my lane, as far as what is true to me and what is timeless.” He strives to create pieces that can be passed down generation to generation and still be relevant.

A pile of oddly shaped offcuts in his studio holds the remnants that Viloria can’t seem to throw away, wood that doesn’t yet fit into a project but is inherently beautiful. Some of these odds and ends have found a literal home in Viloria’s latest personal project. Behind him on a workbench stands the front door to his own home — an old plantation house in Hale‘iwa that once belonged to his grandparents — crafted from shapes of leftover wood pieced together like a quilt.

The door is representative of his design sensibility, which Viloria describes as “elemental.” His work is minimalist, but well detailed. “I am true to the materials with an attempt to be as simple as possible. Not in trying to be effortless, but rather to not be overworked or fussy,” he explains. “As far as design or construction, I want it to look like it has been there or is going to be there forever.”

He has undertaken the renovation of his historic home with his wife, Amanda Chenoweth, an interior designer and his partner in Hanai Works. The duo met in architecture school in Seattle, where Viloria was raised, and they returned to Hawai‘i, where the rest of his family lives. Viloria originally got into metalwork when he was younger, riding motorcycles and repairing cars, and this naturally led to the fabrication of metal for furniture. From there, he picked up woodworking, and he has continued to work on these projects for the last 15 years. Working as an architect and for general contractors gave him the expertise and contacts needed to pursue Hanai Works as a full-time business three years ago.

Viloria made a name for himself with high-end clients attracted to his modern designs along with his focus on sustainability. He tends to avoid exotic woods as the way they are sourced is often questionable, and uses local materials as much as possible, sourcing from contacts on Hawai‘i Island and even from his neighbors in Wahiawā, Albizia Project. “There’s a lot of variety that is locally available, and there are really good suppliers,” he says. “The people that I source my materials from I can trust in that way. I know that they’re harvesting, and they’re actually foresting as well, so they’re repopulating.”

While Viloria is focused on sustainability in his design practices, hyperlocal materials don’t always serve that goal. Smaller pieces can be sourced from Hawai‘i, but the larger local slabs have to come from trees that have fallen because they are injured or diseased, as old and large trees like koa are now incredibly rare. He therefore turns to trustworthy mainland sources for bigger pieces. “I think my priority is doing as little damage to these material sources as possible, because truthfully there are a lot of walnut species that grow really fast, they grow really large, and they’re in an abundance that they can be regrown in somebody’s lifetime, as opposed to farming these very beautiful trees that are like unicorns now.”

As for his metalwork, Viloria likes to work with brass, stainless steel, and copper. On top of the machining and welding, he does a range of patinas, blackening, and etching into the metals to add a painterly quality. Recently, he has been focusing on metal casting, from custom hardware to larger sculptural elements that become significant parts of the furniture.

As a furniture builder, Viloria strives to invest in his materials and make something truly exceptional. “I think processes are always evolving, as far as how to properly build furniture, but also what’s possible, and how I’m able to express that.”