Yesterday I showed the workshop, warehouses, shop, showroom and hotel to some friends. They arrived a little later than expected. After the tour, I made dinner for them. We walked through the building at a fast pace. It was quite a gruelling event to process so many impressions in such a short space of time, but at least we got it done.
The tour started in the beginning of the workplace, where the most wonderful objects are made. Close to the office (and me) because customised pieces require a lot of deliberation. I showed them the bar we are making for the Kunstkerk in Dordrecht. The body is finished, then it will be entirely clad with 40×40 scrap wood tiles and copper fittings.
Right next to it is a series of tree trunk tables we have made for Ilse Crawford. They wanted to be able to disassemble them, so we connected the legs and the rails using a stainless steel click system. The tables are an example of what we are doing more and more: “extreme furniture making”. We are now making more and more furniture that is time consuming and pushes the limits in terms of technique and materials.
The tour then continued past the enormous beam-benches we are making for a customer in Germany. Behind, in the workshop where the larger series’ of chairs, night stands and stools are made, stood the mini mobile workshop set-up that Glenn has created to make the scrap-wood-equally-thick-furniture at Merci in Paris.
Then I showed them the rest of the workshop: the upholstery shop, printing and cutting machines, the metal shop, the paint department and the ceramics workshop. In the metal workshop is a little aluminium metal house that we are making especially for a customer. It is made with as little material waste as possible, using exactly 10 complete sheets of 6 mm thick aluminium.
We also walked through the packaging area to the wood storage, where there were a load of boxes that will soon be picked up for transport to America and Japan. Erik thought the wood storage area looked like a cathedral. When you see such large quantities of wood, sorted by colour and piled up left and right of the aisles, you understand that our scrap wood products are really made from old wood and just what this entails. Then we quickly walked through the showroom, to finally take the lift to the Dakbar. The Dakbar is not open quite yet, but it is a wonderful space to be able to show people.
After that we went one floor lower to see the hotel corridor and one of the rooms, and completed the tour with a visit to the Wonder Room and the Lobby Restaurant which is thankfully busy again.
Steef joined us and saw straight away that everyone has had enough of the tour. Giving a tour like this feels more and more like bragging. It is too much and too big to show and explain everything. Door
Afterwards, we all went to eat in the smallest house, where I live. Really small and cosy. One way or another, we as a family always seem to attract other families who also make a lot of noise, so the little house was a wonderful cacophony of sound.
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