The Atelier

Materials & Wood

Everything we make begins long before the bench — in the choosing of a board, and in the patience to leave it alone until it is ready. This page is about the material itself: what we use, how we prepare it, and the one promise we will never bend.

The vow

Solid wood, all the way through. Never veneer. Never MDF. If you cut one of our pieces in half — please don’t — you would find the same wood at its heart as on its surface.

Veneer photographs the same and costs a fraction. We don’t use it, because a lamp that carries a lifetime guarantee has to be the real thing to its core.

The palette

Seven hardwoods carry the collection, each with its own temperament. Every product page states the actual wood of that piece.

WalnutDeep, chocolate-dark and calm — the wood that makes a room lower its voice.

RosewoodRichly figured and warm, with a grain that seems to move in lamplight.

OakStraight-grained and honest — strength you can read on the surface.

AshPale and light-loving, with a long, elegant grain that suits quiet rooms.

BeechFine, even and composed — a smooth canvas that lets form do the talking.

AcaciaLively and contrasting, where light and dark bands meet in one board.

EbonyMidnight-dense and rare — used sparingly, where a piece asks for gravity.

TeakReserved for special series — golden, oiled-rich, famously enduring.

Aged, never rushed

Fresh timber is full of moisture and opinions. Worked too early, it will spend the next year arguing with itself — twisting, checking, opening at the joints. So we don’t work it early. Every board we use is aged for the time the wood actually needs — until its moisture settles and it stops moving — and only then does it earn a place at the bench.

It is the least visible stage of the entire craft, and the one that decides everything after it. A finish can be redone; seasoning cannot be faked.

Steam-conditioned — our premium pieces

For our premium works, the wood goes one step further: it is treated with steam before it is shaped. Steam relaxes the tension inside the fibres and draws the tone even through the board — so the piece that emerges is calmer, more stable, and more uniform in colour, ready to hold its form and its finish for decades.

It is an old discipline, done slowly and done right, and it is part of what separates a premium piece from a good one.

The nature of the real thing

Because every board is unique, every piece is too. Grain, figure and tone vary — that variation is the signature of solid wood, not a flaw in it. And wood is a living material: its colour deepens gracefully with light and years, the way leather and brass improve with use. Two pieces from the same design will never be identical twins; they will be siblings.

Beyond the lamp

The same woods, hands and standards go into everything that leaves this atelier — our lighting, our decorative objects, custom commissions, and even the wooden presentation packaging we build for the pieces that deserve it. When we say we work in wood, we mean all the way to the box.

Living with solid wood is easy — a soft dry cloth is most of it. The full guidance is in our Care Guide, and the wood itself is covered by our lifetime guarantee.