Zeitraum Solid Wood Furniture
5 November 2009
“Captains Courageous (of Industry)”
One of the most enjoyable things I ever did as a young man was to restore some Danish furniture for a friend who was moving into a new apartment. It really had just gotten rather dirty from dust and two small children and, frankly, a bit of abuse. But with some oil and ultra fine steel wool and elbow grease and two days of my time, I was able to restore it to what it was when it had first been purchased. It was something I did as a favor, so my “payment” was really just a hearty thank you, or so it seemed on the surface. Truthfully, my payment was just being able to work with that furniture. Well, since then I have gone on to make a fair amount of my own stuff, but I still think about that little project from time to time, and seeing the nice clean lines of the subject of today’s blog really did a lot to take me back to those days and that project. But I have to say that what these people have done with this furniture is considerably more than what was done with the stuff I refurbished. There is a nice cleanness of line here that I especially like.
Each piece of Zeitraum furniture, like the wood it employs, is unique. They hand-select all of the wood they use, and unlike so many in Europe these days, they still use solid wood, including Beech, Oak, Knotty Oak, Maple, American Cherry, American Walnut, European Walnut and Amazakoue. And, no, I don’t know what Amazakoue is either. Ask me about American Walnut!
But to return to our subject, Zeitraum is a German furniture maker making what I personally consider a very exciting line of furniture, but it’s exciting in a low-key sort of way, if that’s not too much a contradiction in terms. Let me explain.
I know that a fair number of those who read these lines will think of this furniture as stark, whereas I tend to think of it as courageous, which it really is if you stop to think about it for a moment. There are no frills on this furniture, no ornaments. They have not even hidden behind an ultra high gloss finish. No, sir! What you see in this line-and all you see-is oiled wood that has been shaped by expert craftsmen, because no one else can join wood in quite this manner. What that means, though, is that it is dead right or dead wrong, because there is neither elaborate routed profiles nor high gloss to hide behind. There is only one’s work for the world to see. Courageous.
Joseph
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One Response to “Zeitraum Solid Wood Furniture”
November 15th, 2009 at 8:22 AM
I absolutely love that bedroom set. The nice clean Danish line, the stain color is rich and amazing. I will have to see if I can get an account opened with Zeitraum furniture so I can start bringing this beautiful design to America.
Thanks for blogging about this line.