Oak Gates (Private Commission)

This is one of Henry’s favourite commissions to date.

After meeting a lovely couple at a Craft in Focus event at RHS Garden Wisley, they had spotted a photo of a steam bent gate Henry had completed a few years ago and that’s started the conversation!

The other day with a good friend the gates were installed in Camberley, Surrey. They’ve been a little while in the making (you may have seen the steam bending videos!) but we’re super happy with the finished product!

A huge part of what we love here at HWD is sourcing the timber in the tree and being a part of the whole process through to the final product. In these gates the Oak came from West Chiltington and the Ash from Nutbourne  both less then 10 miles from our workshop in West Sussex. 

Oak Bench

oak bench, outdoor furniture, benchThis piece was designed for the New Forest Trust Fine Crafted Wood Competition. The brief was to create an out standing piece of furniture. I was experimenting with multiple thin strips of MDF and bending them in my hands then the lowest strip slipped down creating a space. After a a lot of models, I had the rough idea of what I wanted to create. I tapered and angled the legs as this made the piece visually lighter and stronger. The seat frame was a result of not wanting a support at the base of the legs as I felt this broke up the sweeping lines of the piece. I won the People’s Choice Award at the New Forest Show for this bench.

Freehand steam bent bench

chaise-longue, bench, outdoor furnitureThis piece was very much process led from the beginning. I wanted to use free hand steam bending and originally thought of making a chaise-longue, but the piece started to look very heavy and cumbersome. The decision to turn this piece into a bench adds to the contrast having organic shapes meeting with a very structured and angular end. From the beginning I really wanted this piece to have great contrast not only organic to structured but also in contrasting light and dark timbers. This is a new for 2014. This steam bent bench is made out of Ash and Oak. The Ash was sourced and milled by Henry local to where he lives and works in West Sussex. The Oak is also a Sussex Oak. This bench is also finished for outdoor use.