Peace by Piece of Martin Saar & Uplifting Worlds

This is a capture into the rooms, imagination and the inner world of Estonian artist Martin Saar filmed for a short documentary made alongside his painting work on a custom JALG TV Stand. A collaboration between Scandinavian-oak furniture and the vision of an artist. Below, Martin talks about the spaces he creates in, where his ideas come from, and why he paints the way he does.

#StoryToStand series continues its collaborative reflections with creatives who bring a distinct inner world to their craft. This chapter introduces Martin Saar and his uplifting inner world.

How a Room Becomes Alive

In the beginning, the space just happened. A light, something on the wall — it was there, and that was enough. But over time, something shifted. A painting on a wall isn't just decoration. Add light, add sound, and let the pieces begin to interact with each other while it starts to change the room, and the whole space changes frequency.

There is no such thing as silence. Something is always there, and what feels alright to one person may feel annoying to another.

You know when a room is right the moment you walk in. If something's off, you feel it immediately, even if you can't name it. Everything becomes part of the room eventually: the chair, the carpet, the table, the pen and pencil, the color of the wall, whether there are curtains or not. Several things have to align before a space simply feels good.

Imagination as The Fundamental of All Creation

Imagination is the foundation of all creation — arguably the most important thing a person can hold onto. The real question isn't whether you can create, but what you create that actually comes from you.

There's a conscious choice at the center of this work: not to add more sadness to the world. There's already so much trauma, so much weight people carry. So the work leans toward the uplifting — new worlds built on canvas, then moved around just to see how they interact with a room, and with the people.

Where The Ideas Come From

Painting is a fragile process. Going deep into it means visualizing, almost downloading something from a shared, collective consciousness and it's hard to say exactly where those thoughts originate. They simply start to appear.

Inspiration doesn't come from consuming more or looking harder. Often it arrives through stillness by taking real time alone, quieting the outside world, and locking the door. That's when the magic starts, first in the mind, as a flood of ideas.

Connection Comes in Waves

Feeling deep connection, then almost none when it moves like a tide. That sense of belonging can start early, even among people who feel like misfits or outsiders to the "normal" system. There is so many different people, and my group of people, they are everywhere, in the most ordinary places, all over the world.

Sometimes it means having close friends nearby. Sometimes it's talking to someone on the other side of the world for ten minutes and feeling like you've known them for a decade. That feeling of connection arrives right when you need it, and it is a good one.

The Priceless Face

Giving art away is a gift in itself. There's a particular ritual to it: finishing a piece the night of a friend's birthday, sometimes so late the party is already winding down and still showing up with something made just for them.

That moment when someone receives something they didn't expect, something they've never seen before, and they genuinely love it, the energy in that instant is unmatched. That brief second of surprise, that expression on their face, is priceless. It might be the real reason to make art in the first place.

It's Not an Easy Path

Being an artist is not easy in any field. But sharing the journey, the room, the imagination, the connection, the gift-giving — might be enough to show someone else that it's possible.

And now it's simply a matter of time. How much of it do we have today, to do something with the inspiration that just arrived?

Nobody knows.

Bring home the uplifting piece

The Scandinavian Oak and the full range of JALG TV Stands are available now. Or contact us via email of info@jalg.me for the one of a kind artwork standing out in the space.