Art of Kinetik

Design inspirations can come from many art forms. It’s nice to look at different types of beauty to freshen things up. It's also fun to learn about different types of design. 

When someone describes their vision for a home, words that you'll hear are aesthetic, timeless, balance...

Photos from Art of Kinetik



Art of Kinetik is based in Belgrade, Serbia, where research and development, including the design, naval architecture and engineering is being done to create a new class of luxury yachts ranging from 10 to 30 meters long. The yachts are made of mahogany, teak, stainless steel and leather to create floating pieces of art.

Source

It was hard to find much information about the company, since most of the press they’ve received is in French-, Italian-, and Russian-printed publications. But these pictures are worth a thousands words. These yatchs are best appreciated through visualization.

However, I did find a press release that talks about their use of wood in the creations.

Why wood? One can talk about wood for hours. Wood is ultimately a material that is beautiful, noble and timeless. When it comes to boats, wood has numerous technological, functional , structural and aesthetic qualities that none other can match. Structurally, wood is a material that has a very good weight to strength ratio. It naturally does not fatigue over time like metals. Wood also naturally absorbs sounds and vibrations, so it provides a uniquely comfortable and luxurious ride. Finally for us wanting to make floating pieces of art, wood being a timeless material was the only natural choice. 

The company was formed at the end of 2007 with private funding by four friends, the oldest being 42. They saw an opening into the market--and happened to be wealthy enough to invest in-- modern styled wooden yachts. The yachts aren’t just for looks either. Each one has 2 Rolls Royce jets that reach speed of 45 knots and each yacht requires 8-10 months to build from the time of purchase.

The thing is, in order to even see these boats in real life, you'd have to be in the Mediterranean, or have quick access there. These babies can be found in Port Montenegro, next to the Adriatic sea where European and Russian billionaires are purchasing homes.

Montenegro, with a population of about 670,000, is a country roughly the size of Connecticut that achieved independence only in 2006. With its boundless mountains that drop straight into the Adriatic, Montenegro is, as Lord Byron once declared, very much the “most beautiful merging of land and sea.”

A "Hedonist", the yacht's name, being shipped to the Adriatic Sea

Adriatic Sea

And the guy who heads up the company, Art of Kinetik? Boris Ivanovic…

Yes, sometimes it’s good to see something unexpected…






-T

American Colonial Furniture and Antiques

Hope Y'all had a Happy Fourth of July!

This past Monday, after leaving the lake, I went with my dad to my grandparents home to pick up an old vanity that belonged to my grandmother. My grandfather had painted it with brown paint. It’s a heavy piece of furniture that I figure they purchased mid-century.


I am trying to decide whether to refinish myself or have it redone professionally. Here are some things that I will use to help me make my decision.


Antiques: 100 years or older. Restoring antiques should be left to the professionals. Restoring usually includes fixing broken legs, replacing hardware, repairing cracks, replacing trim pieces and fabrics with period detail. Basically anything that's required to get the piece of furniture as close to the original condition as possible is called restoration.


Refinishing can be as simple as stripping off the top layer of varnish, sanding, and applying a new one.

Contemporary American Colonial. Source

Steps to refinishing a piece.

1) Do a little research to determine its value, so you know whether or not you should try and restore it yourself.


There are a few things that you can look for to determine a piece of furniture’s age. Feel underneath—if the interior corners are sharp, then it's probably not an antique. Take out a screw and look at the threads. If they have inconsistent widths between them, then it's probably pretty old.


2) Clean Before You Start

A good place to start is to give it a good scrub with a sponge and some vegetable-based oil soap in warm water.


3) Sanding: start off with heavy-grit sandpaper, then move to finer grit.
Whether you're painting or staining, once you finish stripping and sanding, you'll want to give it another good cleaning. A clean surface is key to creating a professional finish.

4) There are many different kinds of stain, and each works best with different woods, so be sure to thoroughly research your options before proceeding.


So, as I’m cruising along the internet  ‘doing a little research’ I came across more information about wood. So I figured I’d post this information as a  continuation to  “What is Your Furniture Made of?” You can find more information from my source, here.


Before 1900 (20th century), most furniture was made with these woods:

• Walnut, Oak, Mahogany, Rosewood, Fruitwoods, and rare wood veneers and inlays were common

American Colonial furniture, dependent on local availability, was made with maple, oak, walnut, birch, cherry, and pine. Because preferred furniture woods was readily available, (and less attractive/durable wood was only used for hidden, inside parts), pre-1900 furniture is almost always worth restoring.

Photograph by Miguel Flores-Vianna

As the 'preferred wood' became scarcer and more expensive, furniture started being made from more abundant woods, causing the traditional favorites to become rare.

The “more abundant woods” used today are

• Ash, gum, poplar, pine, fir

How to Assess Wood
How do you begin to identify the type of wood used for your furniture? Ask yourself some key questions:

• Consider the piece of furniture itself. About how old is it, and what style is it?
• Look at the color. Although color can vary considerably from tree to tree, its tone is fairly constant within a species; the color intensity may change, but not the quality. 
• Finally, look at the grain. Is the wood open- or close-grained? Are the pores evenly distributed, or are they concentrated at the growth rings? Is the grain straight or wavy, mottled or swirled?

Wood identification can sometimes be the deciding factor when you aren't sure if a piece is worth refinishing or if it should be thrown away. There's a good chance that a beat-up old dresser was built with what is considered a rare wood, today.


Wood Characteristics
A practical way to identify wood (and thus its value) is by its grain and color.


Wood grain and color: The cell structure of a tree, different for each species, determines its grain. Hardwoods have tubular cells called vessels that are visible as pores in the wood. If the cells are large, the texture of the wood is slightly rough, or open; a filler may be needed to smooth the surface. If the cells are small and has a smooth texture, described as close-grained, it doesn't require filling.


Open-grained woods: Oak, walnut, ash, mahogany, rosewood, and teak woods

Close-grained woods: Beech, birch, maple, cherry, satinwood, gum, and poplar woods

Furniture woods are chosen and valued for the character of their grain and color. This is why the old finish must be completely removed before you can tell for sure what wood a piece of furniture is made of.

Veneers

In old furniture, veneers and inlays of rare woods were often used to form designs or special effects. In modern furniture, veneers are used primarily where solid wood is unavailable or too expensive.

Veneers are fragile, and they can be damaged by refinishing techniques. Veneers are common in modern furniture construction, so take a good look at your furniture before you start to work on it. Any highly figured wood is probably a veneer.


Tips to determine if its vennered

• Sometimes the veneer is visible at the edge of the wood surface, a thin layer glued over the base wood.
• If you can't see a joint at the edge, look at an unfinished area under the piece of furniture. If the unfinished wood looks the same as the finished surface, the piece of furniture is probably solid wood. If there's a considerable difference, it's probably veneered.

Wood combinations: Many types of modern furniture are made with two or more kinds of wood, to keep costs down. Rare woods are used where appearance is important, such as table-tops; the more common woods are used for less conspicuous structural pieces, such as table and chair legs. This multiple-wood construction isn't always easy to see until the old finish is removed -- a table you think is walnut, for example, may turn out to have gum legs, stained to match.

This Corsican chair, found on 1st Dibs, is asymmetrical and made from an astounding array of hardwoods including:

Ask, Beech, Spalted Beech, Cherry, Cocobolo, Zebrano, Indian Rosewood, Oak, Birds Eye Maple, Sycamore, Yellow Box, Pau Rosa, Wenge, Padauk, Bubinga, Sapele, Mahogany, Pear


...But don't be mistaken, this chair was not made with all these woods to keep costs down!  It was done as a project and will cost you an arm and a leg...if you get a deal.


Back to my vanity at hand

It's a heavy piece of furniture. I scratched off some of the brown paint to view the wood underneath. It has a light reddish tint. First guess, I would say that my grandmothers vanity is a red oak, but it probably isn't old enough to be a traditional favorite. It could be beech, poplar, sycamore or willow. I need to investigate the grain more, but not until I can get the piece stripped. Although my grandmothers vanity probably isn't an antique or an American colonial, it's still a valuable piece to me.

Red Oak

Beech

Poplar

Willow

Sycamore

Tara

What Is Your Furniture Made Of?

Source: Cote de Texas

Hardwoods

Hardwood is derived from a broad-leafed tree (without needles).

Mahogany is a native to tropical forests. It is either a pinkish or coppery red hue, with dark fine lines to the grain. With age, mahogany becomes a darker color. Furniture made from mahogany became very popular in the mid-18th century. Most notable maker is Chippendale.

Fun Facts

• Mahogany resists wood rot, making it attractive in boat construction.
• It is also used for musical instruments, particularly the backs of acoustic guitars and drum shells because of its ability to produce a very deep, warm tone compared to maple or birch.
• Guitars featuring mahogany in their construction include Martin D-18 and Gibson Les Paul models.

Barclay Butera Mahogany Dresser

Walnut is used as a material for luxury furniture. It is mostly from England.  The colors of walnut can vary from a light walnut to a rich golden brown color. There are also special types of walnut including burled (closed scrolling grain), circassian walnut, and American fireside.

Fun Facts

• Car manufacturers use black walnut veneer for the interior of their prestige and luxury models. 
• Furniture makers consider this wood to be premium material and often create their high-end pieces with it.

Stained walnut

Raw walnut

Walnut on Pine

Oak is the wood most commonly used for finer, more durable furniture. In the 17^th century Europe started to use oak to make furniture. It is found in red and white, with red oak being the most popular of the two. It stains well to any color. Solid wood oak furniture is highly sought after and often quite expensive.

Fun Facts

• Oak is very resistant to insect and fungal attack because of its high tannin content.
• European and American oak barrels are used to age red wine, sherry, brandy, scotch and bourbon whiskey.

Stained Oak chest

Maple is native to Europe and North America. has a long history of furniture production in the US. It can be stained to have a finish resembling walnut, cherry or other woods. Maple was frequently veneered. Veneering is when thin sheets of a more valuable wood are glued to a less valuable wood. 

Fun Facts

• Some maple wood has a highly decorative wood grain, known as flame maple, quilt maple, birdseye maple and burl wood. This condition occurs randomly in individual trees of several species, and often cannot be detected until the wood has been sawn, though it is sometimes visible in the standing tree as a rippled pattern in the bark.
• Electric guitar necks are commonly made from maple, because of its harder and brighter sound than mahogany.
• Maple is also used to manufacture wooden baseball bats.

Maple burl with mahogany border

Cherry is used as material for luxury furniture. It gets red when exposed to sunlight. Cherry furniture can be stained, or left natural, taking advantage of the natural beauty of the woods rich red-brown color.

Fun Facts

• Most cherry furniture is made from black cherry, a tree that grows along the east coast of the US and is found as far west as the Mississippi river. 
• A mature black cherry can easily be identified in a forest by its very broken, dark grey to black bark, which has the appearance of very thick, burnt potato chips.

Barclay Butera Weathered Cherry Nightstand

Louis XV Style Provincial Cherry wood Desk, Circa 1820

Rosewood is often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. It has an exclusive fragrance. It is hard to work upon and takes high polish. Rosewood can easily be confused with mahogany. When you look closely at rosewood you will see fine black or white rings. Rosewood is also heavier than mahogany.

Fun Facts

• It is good for making musical instruments, piano cases, tool handles, art projects, veneers, and furniture.
• This wood has a strong sweet smell, which persists over the years, explaining the name "rosewood".

Barclay Butera Rosewood Dresser

Rosewood long credenza

Teak is a hard and moisture- resistant wood. Teak furniture is a very popular type of furniture due to its unique appearance and its incredible ability to withstand the elements. It is not unusual for teak furniture, even outdoor teak furniture, to last 100 years or longer. 

Fun Facts

• Teak wood is used in many of the mid-century pieces. It's often stained wheat or champagne, but can also be painted.
• Unstained teak will have an olive-brown or yellow-brown color and eventually, especially if used outdoors, develop a beautiful silver patina. 

Pierre Jeanneret Caned Teak Easy Chair

Softwoods

Softwoods come from needle-bearing evergreen trees and are preferred for intricately carved pieces. Softwoods are more susceptible to marks and dings, but this can often result in an appealing weathered quality.

Pine is usually light-yellow in color and ideal for beach cottages or anywhere you’d like a lighter feel. Pines are among the most commercially important of tree species. The industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries witnessed the origin of pine furniture for the masses, who could not afford oak furniture that was expensive and not everyone could pay for it. Pine was frequently used to make furniture that was intended to be painted or veneered.

Fun Facts   

• There are about 115 species of pine, including the Christmas tree!
• Because pines don't have insect or decay-resistant qualities after logging, they are generally recommended for construction purposes as indoor use only 

Heartwood Pine Floors

Redwood is red in color with distinct growth rings, lighter in weight than many woods. The burl is particularly striking with distinct eye like patterns. Its resistance to moisture makes its valuable for use in outdoor furniture and as exterior shingles, and the burl is often used as veneer.

Fun Facts

• Redwood trees can live for hundreds to thousands of years.
• Redwood is native to California; California is a main producer of redwood furniture.

Spruce is a strong wood that finishes well, but when left outside can not be expected to last more than 12–18 months depending on the type of climate it is exposed to. 

Fun Facts

• It is used in many musical instruments, including guitars, mandolins, cellos, violins, and is the soundboard of a piano.
• Hard to find as furniture.

Chinese Spruce Sideboard

Cedar is a reddish wood with sweet odor. It grows all over the world including California, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, and Mexico. Cedar is markedly more affordable than most other types of wood.

Fun Facts

• It is bacterial and fungal resistance.
• Cedar is 80% the strength of Oak, making it desirable to use for outdoor furniture.

Stained red Cedar

So its really hard to tell what type of wood furniture is. It takes someone who has been working with furniture for a long time. I thought it'd be fun to get down the basics, but there's definitely a lot more to this than what meets the eye! 

One article I found especially helpful sourced a book, Field Guide to American Antiques, by Joseph T. Butler. It gave a context chart of what you can expect to be the norm when antique furniture shopping. More information can be found here.

A. 17TH CENTURY - Oak

B. WILLIAM AND MARY - Walnut

C. COLONIAL- Indigenous Woods, Maple, Oak, Walnut, Cherry

D. EARLY QUEEN ANNE - Walnut

E. LATE QUEEN ANNE – Mahogany

F. WINDSOR – Oak, Ash, Pine

G. CHIPPENDALE - Mahogany

H. FEDERAL - Mahogany, Cherry, CurlyMaple

I. EMPIRE - Mahogany

J. VICTORIAN:

a. GOTHIC – Mahogany

b. ELIZABETHAN – Mahogany

c. ROCOCO – Walnut, Rosewood

d. RENAISSANCE REVIVAL – Walnut

e. EASTLAKE – Walnut, Oak, Chestnut

f. COLONIAL REVIVAL/CENTENNIAL - Mahogany, Walnut

K. ARTS & CRAFTS/MISSION – Oak

L. ART NOUVEAU – Walnut

M. ART DECO/ART MODERNE – Walnut, Maple

Happy Friday!

Tara

 Library in Dallas Home. Source