Taurus Studio is a design and build firm based between Ojai and San Francisco. We specialize in designing and building artistic custom furniture, high end spaces, bespoke cabinets and mixed medium art installations. While our core material is wood, we have extensive experience with concrete, clay, metal, and plaster. We enjoy working with home-owners as well as designers, architects and general contractors. We’d be honored to help you bring your concept / project to life.

My name is Michael Sharf, I am the principal and lead designer at Taurus Studio (Formerly Tribe Studio).  I split my time between the SF bay area and Ojai.

As a child I was trained in woodworking, ceramics and metalwork by my teachers Ken Kettwig, Rick Frudden and Gavin Kermonde. I attended UC Berkeley for my undergraduate studies where I also played on the water polo team. While at Cal, I continued to make work in the metal shop and pottery studio, while I earned a BS in finance and accounting. From there I did a stint on wall-street, and played a few seasons of professional water polo in Spain and Brasil.  When I retired from playing water polo, I enrolled in graduate school at Stanford to focus on entrepreneurship and design. It was there that I founded BridgeAthletic, which has become one of the leading providers of athletic-training data management tools to professional sports teams and elite trainers around the world.

My path to Taurus started in my early 20’s as I noticed that my IKEA furniture collection started to deteriorate and ended up as a pile of useless scraps that I would have to dispose of. Albeit frustrating, I was not at all surprised by this. These pieces that I had collected over the years were inexpensive and clearly not meant to be moved once— let alone 2-3 times. The campaign against single use plastic was widespread in the communities where I spent most of my time. Yet, sadly there was, and still is, little said about the recent proliferation of single use furniture. 

In response to this, I decided that I would build all of the furniture for the spaces I was living and working in. My work continues to be rooted in its origin which is to serve as a statement against disposable furniture and more broadly to inspire conscious living. 

My wood/metal working and construction expanded beyond outfitting my personal spaces to constructing and building in a commission context, for both residential and commercial clients. I have challenged myself to use the language of design to push forward ideas around material-selection and the permanence and/ or longevity of the furniture itself. 

My aesthetic is California-contemporary with references to Japanese and Scandinavian design. I draw inspiration from furniture makers, architecture, fashion, environmental activists and culinary leaders. My favorite part of the process is that I allow materials to lead the way. I also invite the emotional aspects of shape, color and space as vehicles to influence a desired effect of a piece on its user or the space where it will exist. 

When I’m working with wood, my favorite material, I focus on utilizing naturally re-claimed . That doesn’t mean barn wood, but rather elm, cypress, walnut and oak trees that grow organically and fall naturally from old age. I work with arborists in Northern California whose craft is finding these trees, milling and drying the wood to be used in fine furniture making.

I look forward to hearing from you and helping you bring your dream-space to reality.