Explore and Love Light Wood-Grain in Design
How do circles tell us about the story of life? The concentric circular marks under the bark of a tree are layers added to a tree’s trunk each year as it grows, and become the mark of every year past. Wood grain is the very reflection of the life of a tree, proof of natural life and growth carved deep into its pattern. These are motifs we can choose to enjoy in our daily lives: from our floorboards, via cabinets, our tables, and to our chairs. A connection to nature, the wood grain highlights how the tree lived on before us for centuries, and purposefully becomes sculpted into objects that make up our surroundings and our home. From Birchwood, Oak, Pine, and Balsa, light wood making its return to trend as a blank canvas that calms the eye and the nerves and allows us to enjoy the natural patterna, whilst bringing a breath of fresh nature to ground us back to Earth. Keep reading here in Explore and Love Light Wood-Grain in Design to learn more about some designs which have been created using light wood.
New Wood Trends
For quite a long time now, dark wood has been seen everywhere, from chic boutiques to modern homes, rich chocolates, coffee colours and earthy-peat. It was the tone of choice, for not just shelves and cupboards but flooring and furniture. The tide has turned, and a new breed of makers are exploring and exposing the very nature of wood at its most natural. Welcome home, light wood.
Timbra Piano in Dune, Kelly Wearstler
Timbra Kelly Wearstler x Edelweiss Image Giulio Ghirardi
The grand piano is a piece that commands attention from its place in tradition and with its warm, resonant voice. A collaboration with piano makers Edelweiss, this birchwood creation attempts to conceal its scale, blending in effortlessly into light walls and the natural sunlight. And yet, the Timbra Piano in this colour Dune maintains its elegant presence, with sweeping curves from its domineering form, down to the natural wood-grain that rings out in broad strokes. A sculptural art piece that hides its power in plain sight. This piano was masterfully handcrafted by an expert team in Cambridge.
Timbra Kelly Wearstler x Edelweiss Image Giulio Ghirardi
The fluid, rounded edges resemble sound waves reverberating off the instrument, a full sound that touches our hearts. This traditional sound has been preserved despite the unconventional veneer and continues an acoustic quality in line with Edelweiss’s prowess in piano making.
The Timbra piano reminds us that the beauty of an instrument doesn’t just have to come from a musician’s touch, but that it can stand on its own as a creative wonder.
Image from Kaldewei
The bathroom, a central part of any home, a place to clean but also relax. Wood offers a textural echo back to the natural world in our bathroom spaces, which are often ruled by cool, clean porcelain and tiles. Spas often take this approach, and now we can bring these serene elements to our own homes with this set of oak wood bathroom accessories from Kaldewei.
Designed by industrial designer Stefan Diez and manufactured by e15, this set of seven pieces is meant to complement the Meisterstück Oyo Duo, a glazed-titanium steel bathtub. This collection offers a striking contrast between the two products: the sleekness and minimalism of the tub next to the warmth of organic grain; accessories born from the Earth.
The collection includes a stool, bench, tripod towel rack, bath bridge, footboard base, and a leather pocket and leather loop strap. With a focus on geometric and angled design, these cleverly crafted objects draw comfort into the bathroom while maintaining Kaldewei’s minimalist look. Created from European oak, the pieces are built in a specialised workshop in Germany.
Image from Nancy Zhou
Light woods have the power of ‘disappearing’ in a space, acting as a canvas where other details can shine through. But not here. In the case of this outdoor shed, this is meant literally; at night, warm light filters through the timber slats that surround the structure, turning a simple outdoor shed into a stunning light installation. In fact, it’s been nicknamed ‘Nightlight’ by Fabric, the architecture studio which brought this vision to life.
It’s a shed that seems as if it comes from nature itself; the wood exterior of the shed matches the Kānuka trees surrounding it, blending it into the wildlife of rural Akaroa, New Zealand. The body of the shed is made of translucent polycarbonate, allowing the minimalist pine and locally sourced Macrocarpa wood to stand out.
During the day, the shed provides the storage we need, as well as a bathroom, workspace, and an outdoor kitchen for a home that will eventually be built on the site. The shed was designed specifically with this nightlight vision in mind. The battens and slats were meticulously lined up and placed sparingly to create a uniform glow. The inside frame is made of a warmer timber, creating an inviting space to work and live.
Nightlight is an especially creative use of light wood, a piece that shines bright, revealing a warm glow that will lead you home through the dense New Zealand woods.
Pinball Machine, Louis Vuitton
Image from Louis Vuitton
For their Easter selection of homeware, Louis Vuitton is venturing further into the world of games and activities with a birchwood pinball machine. What better way to spend your bank holiday than around a pinball machine, a reminder of the nostalgia of our youth, with the luxury of Louis Vuitton’s expert craftsmanship. Coming in three colours, the dark and moody Monogram Eclipse Noir, the sleek Beige VVN, and the classic Monogram.
Every inch of this machine exudes the creativity and the legacy of Louis Vuitton, down to the meticulous design elements and detailing. For example, notice the natural cowhide lining and LV stud ball launcher that mimics the leather fasteners of their bags, as well as the iconic LV monogram that reflects the innovation one might expect from this House. With sleek, chrome-plated metal and its French-made birchwood structure, this is sure to provide a gaming experience like no other.
Image from Branca
We feel that no other material represents nature as well as wood does; it is perfect in its natural habitat, blending in amongst its familiar environment. A wooden chair on a wooden deck looking out to the green world around us. This lounge chair from Branca takes on this ideal. The ‘barcas,’ which means ‘small wood boat’ in Portuguese, were traditionally handmade and smooth, used for fishing along the countryside or transporting goods and people across the Douro River. Taking from this idyllic past, the Barca chair reimagines the useful boats into an easy chair that takes inspiration from its genius design and craft.
This is a chair that looks great outdoors, lounging in a garden, but also in a living room. Branca takes from Portugal’s expert knowledge of wood, with clever joints, fine Oak and Bamboo wood, and traditional weaving techniques. The chair becomes a light and easy piece with a resistant structure and smooth curves. Patiently assembled by hand, the Barca is a chair made with precision and care, with a wood frame that reflects the expertise of Portuguese joinery.
Confidences of a Tour de Mains: Hartis × CMS Collection
Photo by Matthieu Salvaing
One of the best ways to see furniture is styled in a home, paired with art and objects, in order to view them from a human perspective. This is what Hartis and CMS Collection have done in this display, combining pieces from Hugo Besnier’s Tour de Mains furniture collection with works from Argentinian painter Roberto Platé, all styled together in the former French apartment of fashion designer Pierre Cardin.
When seen together, this display gives a context for Besnier’s light wood pieces to blend seamlessly in, while interacting with Platé’s artworks. Besnier’s designs to create a space that people could live in and inhabit, and this can be seen in Hartis’ apartment, which collects artisan furniture and art designed to be lived in. The pieces work on a common ground with the artworks of Platé, who was inspired by ideas of unity and ‘meditations on the essential.’
When seen together, the effect is calming on the eyes and mind, with the soothing colours, the pops of wood reflective of the natural world, and styling that feels very human.
Light Wood:
The quiet presence of wood grain offers more than just aesthetic appeal; it tells a story of time, growth, and continuity. The pattern of rings reminds us of the natural world, a record of life lived long before they came to live in our homes. By using light wood, we invite that history into our spaces, creating environments that feel grounded, calming, and connected to nature. Like an anchor, they remind us of the enduring world of nature that we enhabit.
Read more about Timbra Piano here. Read more about the e15 collection here. Read more about the Nightlight here. Read more about the Pinball machine here. Read more about the Barca here. Read more about Confidences of a Tour de Mains here.
If you enjoyed reading Explore and Love Light Wood-Grain in Design, why not read Fall in Love with Different and Unique Japanese Cinema.
.Cent Magazine, London. Luxury Mindset.
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