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.
Here you can see Brumble modelling the kurfed dog bed made out of locally sourced Sussex Ash. Kurfing is using just one piece of wood. The dog beds have a sturdy ply wood floor raised up off the floor to allow air to circulate and are available in ash and oak.
This 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.
This 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.
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The Dove Table has an English Ash and Oak top and English Oak legs. The benches use the same combination of wood.
The Kerfed Oak bed is the perfect combination of luxury style and comfort. It was designed to celebrate the superb quality of Oak from English Woodlands. This is shown through the unique design – using 500 mm wide boards to showcase the full beauty of the grain. A bonus feature from a practical perspective is that the bed can easily be assembled and disassembled – so it can be built in even the most inaccessible bedrooms.
