Beautifully-crafted wooden furniture imbues the hearth with warmth and possesses timeless heirloom qualities
Wooden furniture is evergreen because it is indubitably strong enough for furniture applications, is sustainable as a construction material and outwits, outplays and outlasts like no other material.
Wood is valued in furniture construction for its innate classic beauty, natural warmth and durability. Wooden furniture matches both traditional and contemporary decors.
Wood instantly introduces nature into a home and adds a beautiful counterpoint to the digital gadgetry so prolific in our homes today.
There is, too, something very fundamental about the feeling of enduring strength that wood offers, accentuated by its organic and unique grains. Wood finishes enhance the tactile beauty of wood further.
Craft Prized as Much as Wood
Craft is prized as much as the wood that is worked; master carpenters are still much esteemed today. Hans Wegner was an internationally-acclaimed Danish furniture designer who had a strong affinity for solid, carved wood.
His 1949 Round Chair has been called the world’s most beautiful chair with its handsome, simple functionality and elegant joints. Solid wood, much like leather, also ages very gracefully.
Furniture should not be disposable; furniture pieces are investments that should reward you with long-term dividends. Solid wood furniture is desirable for the honesty and integrity in traditional workmanship methods such as wood joinery.
Strength of Solid Workmanship
Interlocking wood joints utilise the distinctive material properties of solid wood to increase the wood’s sturdiness, flexibility and
even appearance. Nails in wooden furniture tend not to hold up well in humid weather conditions.
Popular quality wood joints are dovetails, a box joint in which the diagonally cut fingers of wood are locked together, and mortise and tendon joints, where the stub (tendon) fits tightly into a hole (mortise) cut for it.
The dovetail joint is exceptionally strong and also adds visual embellishment. It is a hallmark of fine woodworking.
Solid wood gives itself away visually with its grain patterns (especially on the edges) and wood joints that join slabs of wood.
Reliability from Picket&Rail
Thin sheets of wood between drawers act as dust panels, reinforce structural rigidity and secure the drawers’ contents. Picket&Rail also utilises reinforcing corner blocks to brace its wooden furniture further.
For dining tables, solid wood can’t be beat. Studies have proven that wood has natural antimicrobial properties. Picket&Rail’s well-crafted solid wood dining tables offer longevity, simplicity, capacity and even expandability in some cases. Meals are made even more pleasurable for dining off wood.
Character & Depth of Wood
Wood also develops its own character and depth over time. Solid wood is both substantial, like Picket&Rail’s bestselling Americana collection, and relatively easy to repair and be restored and refinished.
Wood maintenance is simple and mainly relies on regular dusting with a soft cloth and protection from heat and liquids.
Wood is recyclable and sustainably-sourced wood minimises the impact on our environment, especially when the long life-expectancy of wood, when properly taken care of, is factored in.
Picket&Rail favours eco-friendly and durable plantation rubberwood (that maximises the utility of rubber trees), American poplar wood (which is the tallest hardwood species in the United States), beech, ash, American maple, white oak and American walnut.
By Nur Khairunnisa Ismail, Picket&Rail
Picket&Rail, City Square Mall, #03-42/48/50, Singapore 208539; IMM, #03-24/26, Singapore 609601; and 36 Kaki Bukit Place Singapore 416214
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