Furniture in New Woods

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 332, 18 April 1928, Page 6

Furniture in New Woods

EVOLVING DIFFERENT STYLES

Use of Dominion Timbers

AFTER many years of period reproductions a new style of furniture has been evolved in Great Britain which is sufficiently good and sufficiently beautiful to take its place among the famous seventeenth a,nd eighteenth century designs.

zi TOTALLY new find original style has been built up, and is gradually nearing perfection. Just as Chippendale and Sheraton allowed their work to be influenced by French and early classical designs respectively, so the modern craftsmen have evolved their new style along traditional lines: that new style is, however, as original as any of the work that came from the workshops of the famous eighteenth century masters. Apart from the original lines of this new furniture style, one of the most interesting developments is the use of rare and, to the layman, unknown 'woods; indeed, a great deal of the originality of twentieth century designs lies in the clever use of these decorative timbers. The wood that perhaps has been most widely adopted in amboyna wood, a native tree of the West Indies. The wood has a bird’s eye figure and a mellow golden brown colour. It was used slightly by Hepplewliite and Adam for decorating furniture, but it has never been so widely used as at the present time. Whole bedroom suites are being reproduced in amboyna wood, and the softly glowing colour is a joy to behold. Many pieces of Italian, French, American and English walnut furniture are decorated with inlays of Macassar ebony, zebrano wood, holly and coloured woods of every conceivable 'shade. Zebrano wood, which is a native of tropic America, is a beautifully marked

hardwood which has been adopted particularly for bedroom furniture. Gold and silver leaf are frequently used to adorn drawer knobs and door handles of furniture made in the darker of the new decorative woods. Ivory and imitation ivory are also employed for this purpose, while mother-of-pearl and many rare-col-oured woods which come from the very centres of trees growing in the densest parts of the world’s jungles form attractive bandings and inlays. Painted furniture is also coming into vogue again, and some fine examples in apple green with brown and red designs have been seen. It is not generally known that several woods which are made into furniture come from the Dominions, and the principle of Empire buying can be followed in the furnisher’s showrooms.

Among the Dominion furniture woods are black bean and silky oak, which come from Australia, maple from Canada and kauri from New Zealand It must be mentioned that walnut, mahogany and oak are being used to a large extent in modern furnishings, but in some cases these woods are being treated in novel manners to give more original effects. Up to the present time our choice has been practically limited to walnut, mahogany and oak, but now the range has been widened greatly by the use of timbers which are full of colour and beauty, and which are distinguished by their line graining and figuring. The illustrations show a modern sideboard with flinted column legs, ivory inlays and handles in French Ancona walnut, while the table is made from one of the new woods with fluted edge and ivorine feet.

Considerable difficulty i? often experienced in removing marking ink, particularly if left for some time. The following treatment, however, is almost invariably found to be satisfactory: Dissolve loz potassium permanganate in one gallon water. The stains should be soaked in this solution for a few seconds. The fabric must then be well rinsed in cold water, and the brown colour remaining removed with either a weak solution of sulphurous acid, oxalic acid or hydrogen peroxide. Completely remove the chemical by thorough rinsing, and repeat the process until the stains are removed. With certain types of marking ink--those which require the application of heat—a different process Is necessaiy. First, apply a little iodine solution, rins*, and remove the iodine stain with a solution of sodium thiosulphate. Cotton or linen article* should afterwards be boiled.

COUNTRY BUILDING

There is nothing wrong with bale, ing activity in Papatoetoe as ures for the year show. A total of 45 permits were issued the Papatoetoe Town Board for & year ended March 31, and of th«ai c were for wooden structures value! i; £31.287, and two in brick value! r £1.650. Three permits were issue! ft business premises in brick to the of £6,112, and one in wood for £ Alterations and additions to dwriki I totalled 27. valued at £2,442, an! t business premises in four in*tano*f £844, making an aggregate of SO pr mits of a total value of £42,585. MANUREWA For the same period the Maninn Tow n Board issued 21 permitt & dwellings valued at £14.082. The: were 20 permits for additions and» 1 terations, bringing the total tf> £lS£