Ian Laval
 
furnituremaker
  Vancouver Island,
  British Columbia, Canada

 

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Furniture and design

 

The hallmark of Ian Laval's furniture
is the use of strikingly decorative
sawn burr and crotch veneers, which
he often uses in matched quarters in
tops and on drawer-fronts.

He is constantly on the look-out for
interesting features revealed
in the timber-sawing process. The
veneers are sawn one-eighth of an
inch thick in the workshop, steam-ironed before use and are generally laid on a ground of
solid timber of the same species.

Writing bureaux fall fronts, where they are veneered, will have a counter-veneer on the underside to balance the stresses often produced by veneering.

Light inlays of holly and dark ones of
bog-oak, or occasionally walnut,
come from the same trees.

All of the designs are Ian Laval's
own They lean on tradition; not
consciously copying or reproducing
but interpreting old functions and delicate proportions in a  more current setting.

All of them make a frame in which to
display the exciting shapes and
colours of natural wood.

His pieces are made one at a time,
by hand after accurate preparation
of timber stock has been done by
machine.

Dovetails, for instance, are always hand-cut -- including the secret dovetails in the carcases of writing desks, one of the most demanding and time-consuming joints in traditional woodwork.

A great deal of time is spent selecting and matching pieces of wood for each new project.

Where oak is darkened, it is achieved solely by fuming with ammonia gas, an old and largely forgotten process in which the gas reacts chemically with tannin in the oak, turning the wood a rich nut-brown when a finish is applied.

Apart from this fuming process,
Ian Laval relies solely on his timber's
natural colours and does not use
artificial stains.

For surface finishes he uses mainly old-fashioned raw linseed oil mixed with a little natural turpentine as a base polish.

Although it takes time, it hardens and oxidises to the most durable protective coat on which a surface maintenance finish of beeswax and turpentine is applied.

 

 

 








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