O. Rhees Ririe was born in Ogden, Utah in 1928.  He is a retired banker whose second career speaks to his love of wood and form.  He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

In 1984, Ririe took early retirement and pursued his interest in woodcarving and furniture making.  Although he describes himself as self-taught and with limited tools, he has studied with many major furniture makers—with Tage Frid at Brigham Young University and with Sam Maloof and George Frank at the Anderson Ranch Center in Snowmass, Colorado; he attended a Smithsonian Seminar called Twentieth Century Furniture in 1991.

Ririe’s work was exhibited at the Salt Lake Art Center as part of its Crafts ’91 show.  Sofa Table was purchased by the Utah Arts Council, and Majorca won the juror’s award at the State Council of the Arts exhibition.