When your new Homewood original gets delivered, you see the finished piece. What you don’t see is everything that came before it. Look closely and you’ll see traces of its first one. A flash of red in the grain can tell a story of drought or wind. A yellow streak can reveal the tree’s response to insects. Knots and variations in colour are part of the material’s history. Every Homewood original furniture piece starts with a piece of timber and that timber already holds its own story.
Then comes the waiting
Timber needs time before it can be worked. It’s not the most visible part of furniture making. Nothing dramatic happens. But it is important for the wood to reach the right condition and unfortunately, you can’t hurry wood into being ready.
Then the making begins
Once the timber is ready, the workshop gets involved. Machines help with accuracy. Hands make the decisions and, a couple dozen times, someone stops, looks at the grain and decides what happens next. That’s where handcrafted furniture becomes more than a process. The material itself influences the making.
Look inside
Eventually, separate pieces have to become one. Joinery isn’t simply about making something look neat. It needs to hold up to years of being lived with. A table gets used. A chair gets sat in. Drawers get opened and closed. What happens inside the furniture matters. It needs to be strong enough to stand the test of time.
You see the furniture. Not the making.
When the piece finally reaches a home, you may just see a beautiful table or a finished piece. You don’t see the decisions made over a particular board or the hands constantly checking a joint or refining an edge.
There is a lot happening before a piece is ready to become part of your home.
Get in touch to get your next Homewood original before books close for the end of the year.