Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Teo Rhe recalls the shock on people’s faces when they learn that his bench isn’t made out of wood. “People think it’s wood spray-painted silver — how funny is that?” says the South Korean designer. “When they touch it, especially because it’s cold, they realise it’s metal.” With Sheyang Li, a fellow student at Design Academy Eindhoven, Rhe founded the design studio Bureau.parso last April and uses salvaged wood as a model for aluminium furniture and decor. The duo is among a group of designers creating alchemical works that conjure the appearance of wood from unexpected materials. In part it is a desire to connect with nature in an unusual way; but it’s also a means to breathe a semblance of life into a material where it is found lacking. Alongside the Aluminium Veneer Bench is the Aluminum Veneer Lamp, which debuted last December at design show Alcova Miami, and looks like a fallen twig with a slim metal pole running through it. The Aluminum Veneer Chair depicts the knotty texture of heartwood. “We tried to put in as many wood-like grains as we could,” says Li. It’s an effect that is only achievable with soft woods such as Douglas fir and pine. New York-based curator Sandy Park featured Bureau.parso in her exhibition of up-and-coming designers from Seoul at online design gallery Adorno. “Their designs resonated with me,” she says, “especially their ability to mimic wood’s natural qualities with surprising materials.” It was at Milan design fair Salone last year that Rhe and Li were inspired to consider printing “the texture of wood” on aluminium, says Rhe. They suspected their different approaches might be in sync: Li makes coffee tables and stools covered in a glimmering patchwork of metals, while Rhe is informed by the clean lines and discipline of industrial design. It took about a month and a half for the pair to master the process; their Aluminium Veneer series debuted at Paris’s Maison & Objet in September. First, they render their design using Rhino software. Then they sandblast the wood, before hand-brushing. Once the texture is right, they compress the piece with casting sand to make a negative mould which they fill with molten metal — and “pray to the gods that it works”, says Rhe. Seoul-based designer Lee Hyungjun’s Wood Stack series reimagines tree trunk slices in stainless steel. Arranged as tower-like side tables, they nod to seonangdang, or seonghwangdang, the ancient Korean practice of piling stones for good luck.Hyungjun begins by making detailed sketches of trees and 3D renders, then laser cuts metal into individual pieces, joining them with “thick and prominent” welding to mimic tree bark or sap. Hand engraving the tree rings is the hardest part, says Hyungjun, but also the most rewarding. “By dedicating long hours to this act, I can fully infuse my energy into the piece,” he says. “Engraving each line, like tree rings, becomes a way of breathing the vitality of nature into an object that inherently lacks life.” We tried to capture the natural imperfections of the material. This piece embodies the transformation of matter, the passage of time, and the heritage of ancestral knowhowOther designers are imbuing glass with wood-like characteristics. In Prague, Elis Monsport cast glasses from pine tree branches for the restaurant Alba. Garnished with an edible pinecone, an Old Fashioned cocktail feels “like you’re drinking the tree itself”, she says. Her Forester tumblers, shot glasses and high balls are cast from a piece of cork wood found in the Pyrenees — and are available to buy. Similarly, Joyce Broussillou and Clément Thevenot’s Madeira Coffee Table features stout glass legs modelled after a piece of aged oak. “We tried to capture the natural imperfections of the material,” says Broussillou, who lives in Troyes, France. “This piece embodies the transformation of matter, the passage of time, and the heritage of ancestral knowhow.” Recreating the look of a tree as a way to recapture its spirit is also the MO of Hanover-born, Amsterdam-based designer Basse Stittgen. Using an industrial baking mixer, he makes clay by blending water with lignin powder (the plant-based polymer) and end-of-life-cycle cellulose fibre (used for textile and paper production). Stittgen moulds the clay into a bark-like texture, which he arranges over a wooden scaffolding and leaves to air dry. The result: lamps with root-like legs and stumpy armchairs that look like strangely shaped logs. He plans to show them during Salone del Mobile this April. “Today, as a designer, it’s hard to justify creating more things,” he says. “We don’t necessarily need new products, [rather] lenses to look at materials anew, ways of connecting with the things that are already there.”Find out about our latest stories first — follow @ft_houseandhome on Instagram
