Furniture that will stop you in your tracks

Continuing with the Texas furniture Makers show from the previous post. These photos do not do justice to the stunning beauty of these pieces of furniture. I noticed that the pieces which I was really drawn to did not come out good in the photographs. Even framing and angle of he photos is all wrong. I guess that I was so taken in by the product that photographing was secondary.

This pair of side tables are made of Quilted Burl of American Sweet Birch and American Black Walnut. The tables seemed to shimmer as if they were a large piece of jewelry.  I did not quite capture the sheen properly in all the photos in this post. Show pieces are also available for sale.

This one pair will set one back by $15000. Beauty costs money!!! 

Burl is the big bulbous deformed growth you see on trees usually due to infection or other causes. It is extremely rare. Sweet Birch is also called as Black Birch or Cherry Birch. This tree is source of 'oil of wintergreen' a sweet woody oil used by Native Americans to for sore throats, joint pains etc. It is used now a days in chewing gums and mouth wash products. It contains  methyl salicylate ie Asprin!! So it is possible that these bed side tables will banish headaches in the bed room!!

Apart from the amazing inlay work this table has a impressive presence in terms of size and heft. The photo has been unable to capture the scale of this table.

The table thickness is more than 2 inches.  Also if you notice carefully this is not just an inlay on  curved table top. The three main wood species that form the top are not inlay they are wood cut to  have complex curves. sawing them and gluing them together with those curves would be a very challenging task. 

A nice enough chair one would say whats so special about it?  The artistry lies in the use of steam bending of wood. The bent cherry wood (it is not carved) is used through out the chair in the arms and legs in the back supports and even in the slats at the bottom of the seat. The form is so fluid and light yet it is quite strong.

As you see both the pics follow the left leg  and its surface as it progress and bends to become an arm and then twists and bends and then turns over facing the ground  to from the back support, as it progress towards the right side it then flips over so that the surface is back on the top again.
In the pic below watch as the back leg spits into two and one portion joins the arm in a fluid motion the other portion twists bends and flips over to join the wood going to form the back. All this happening where that piece of wood is forming a back flip.

Another pic above of same design in Maple by the same furniture maker. I had downloaded this from the web but don't remember its link. I am including this here just to give more clarity to the  steam bent curves in this chair.

 This table was stunning though nothing much to it in terms of workmanship as exhibits go.

 

As you can see in this slightly out of focus pic the large book matched slab of pecan framed by a darker wood(cherry??) it has a very organic feel to it. If could afford it I would have had it in my dining room.  I will be on the look out for such a large slab of wood when I move to India.

 This coffee table is called suspension table. I uses wood, metal and leather. The base is made like a truck suspension, Two curves in the base are made of metal  the lower one has shaped wood between metal curves. the two suspensions are connected with leather straps.

A slight lip on the bread board ends give a special touch to the top.

This Inlay table was one of my favorites. Some of its design elements are going to make their way in some of my future work. It has a very pleasing proportions, the design  is elegant and restrained. It won the Judges special award and was also featured in the Fine WoodWorking Magazine a couple of months back.

 It is a very beautiful table hats of to the design effort of the maker.

This mixed media room divider was the only entry by an apprentice woodworker. It has ruffled cloth at the bottom and printed cloth at the top. Asian inspired with fine attention to detail.

Thin slats of wood make the up the middle part of the panel.

This concludes the posts related to Texas Furniture Makers show. I'm working on some ideas as to the direction the blog should take especially as it is targeted towards an audience in India. Hobbyist depend on each other to learn and support each other, relevance to their immediate needs would be important. I welcome any ideas. I see some good work being done by a couple of fellow bloggers I hope to add to that number. I'm sure more visibility will help discover more people who are involved in this hobby in India.