Vanity table in London Plane is progressing well. Finished London plane legs for new dressing table. The cupped facets, hand planed with a spoke shave have pulled out various weights of lacewood from mild feathering to wild tiger stripes
Another #walnut & grey glass #coffeetable ready for delivery
This walnut coffee table is light on its black leather feet, the considerable weight of the tinted glass tabletop anchoring the piece to the ground. The leather on the feet is adhered in a twisted formation, not unlike the handle of a badminton racquet whilst the leather stays on the leg tops provide the friction to keep the glass top in place.
Wild Craft/Modernist Context - Future Furniture with Provenance
After many experiments and prototypes, the final designs have a modernist styling with very simple lines and jointing to illustrate the visual versatility of London Plane and power of the Lacewood grain figure. After making reproductions and reinterpretations of early 20th century furniture including Gerard Rietveld’s Red Blue Chair along with research on the American Arts & Crafts Movement and European Modernism, I realised that designing furniture with stylistic restriction was the appropriate way to showcase both traditional hand tool methods and the visual qualities of London Plane, and Lacewood in particular.
Paint added to completed #Rietveld #RedBlueChair #modernism #destijlmovement #modernism
The project to construct a copy of the Rietveld Red Blue chair is completed and now its time for the painting. It was important to obtain the precise colours to finish off this reproduction chair, the red back is Vermillion, the blue seat Ultramarine and the yellow end grain is Cadmium Yellow.
Of course this is the later version of the chair. The original version was designed and made around 1918 but the famiar, iconic colour version is from 1923 .
#revolvingbookcase in #walnut #Ariel finishing off in the workshop #furniture #craft #bookcase
The jointing and planing flush and sanding are all done by hand at the Bermondsey workshop. The detail and finishing are completed slowly so all imperfections are slowly removed.
Ariel is a totally bespoke bookcase, the design can be adapted to fit most book sizes. I have made nearly a dozen of these, all in walnut (maybe two in oak) and I would love to make one in a native timber such as ash, oak or cherry. I can offer 15% discount to anyone interested in an alernative to American Black Walnut.
#revolvingbookcase in #walnut #Ariel coming together in the workshop #furniture #craft #bookcase
Ariel is a totally bespoke bookcase, the design can be adapted to fit most book sizes. I have made nearly a dozen of these, all in walnut (maybe two in oak) and I would love to make one in a native timber such as ash, oak or cherry. I can offer 15% discount to anyone interested in an alernative to American Black Walnut.
Another #revolvingbookcase in production in #walnut #Ariel #furniture #craft #bookcase
Ariel is a totally bespoke bookcase, the design can be adapted to fit most book sizes. I have made nearly a dozen of these, all in walnut (maybe two in oak) and I would love to make one in a native timber such as ash, oak or cherry. I can offer 15% discount to anyone interested in an alernative to American Black Walnut.
Making the #Reitveld #RedBlueChair #modernism #destijlmovement #modernism
The chair is now jointed and glued up. It looks and feels very stable and solid, the low centre of gravity of the frame is more pronouced without the seat and backrest.
Reitvelds ideas for the Red Blue chair, as with much of the early furniture design, centred around contemporary techniques and technology. It is in this spirit that we elected to use a Festool Domino and its accompanying dowels rather than the round dowels specified in the original making notes.
Reproduction project #Reitveld #RedBlueChair #modernism #destijlmovement #modernism
Unique to this project, the customer has requested to participate in its making. In this film he is concentrating and keen to show me that he has listened to my instructions but has been fairly giddy all day.
He has so far been invaluable, sizing components, painstakingly marking out the dowel positions and even helped with the jointing machine. I may even persuade him to paint it!
Reproduction project #Reitveld #RedBlueChair #modernism #destijlmovement #modernism
The first project of the year is a reproduction of the Gerrit Reitveld Red Blue cahir from the 1920s. Reitveld first designed the chair in the early 1920s and it was left in its natiral colour or painted black. The familiar chair with the red blue and yellow was made in 1927.
The picture above shows Reitveld outside his workshop in Utrecht in the early 1920s, sitting in an early version of the chair. Reitveld was a hands on maker, prefering to design as he made, and was every bit the artisan that his cabinet maker father was.
Dramatic #walnut & #maple #diningtable installed at clients new space #furniture #designer #artdeco
Completed #walnut & #Maple #ArtDeco #Diningtable ready for assembly #furniture #wood #artisan
Staggered #Maple #pedestal ready to assemble for #ArtDeco Dining table #walnut #furniture #wood #artisan
New commission #Walnut #diningtable with #maple strip finished & ready for spray shop #artisan #furniture
New #Walnut #diningtable commission includes #maple wave #artisan #furniture
The new walnut dining table commission includes a maple strip running the length of the table, following the grain of the walnut. To achieve this I use a small router to hand route a line running along the grain of the walnut which is then jigsawed out and finished with a large router. Next I create a template to route a piece of maple to fit snugly. To do this I used a router bush 3 x larger than the router cutter. Looking good!
Selecting and positioning #Walnut timber for new commission #diningtable with #maple wave motif
Pre-oiled panels centred & fixed in frames for the back of #arts&crafts #desk #oak #furniture #designermaker
The pre-oiled panels for the new Arts and Crafts executive desk are centred in the marked out and fixed with screws in the centre of each frame aperture so the panel has room to expand and contract left and right.
Panels for #arts&crafts #desk need oiling prior to jointing into frames in #oak #furniture #designermaker
The panels for the new Arts and Crafts executive desk need oiling prior to jointing into the frames. The grooves around the panels are deep enough to allow for the movement of the timber as it contracts or swells with the environment.
Getting groovy with the 32 panel frames needed for #arts&crafts #desk in #oak #furniture #designermaker
Routing identical grooves in 22 identical vertical frames and 10 horizontal frame pieces is time consuming but satisfying (if there are no tear outs and no exploding knots!). Each piece is carefully selected for decorative rays and matching tones before running through the router. Now we are ready to joint the frames.
120 Individual components make up this #Arts&Crafts inspired #desk #oak #furniture
The 120 Individual components that make up the new Arts and Crafts inspired desk that I am making in English oak are sized and laid out. Each piece is sticked or stood on their ends with enough air to circulate around all surfaces to help the new planed and cut shape is maintained and the movement of the timber is minimised.