How it gets made

There is no assembly line. One maker takes a piece from rough stock to finish, which is slower, more expensive, and the only method we have ever used.

Bench 04 — fitting an armrest, March 2026

Five stages · scroll

From tree to floor

Choose the tree

We buy standing timber in the Jura and the Sauerland. Eleven trees marked this spring; nine become furniture in 2028.

Choose the tree

We buy standing timber in the Jura and the Sauerland. Eleven trees marked this spring; nine become furniture in 2028.

Saw and wait

Boards are through-and-through sawn, stickered, and air-dried for a minimum of fourteen months before they see a kiln.

Saw and wait

Boards are through-and-through sawn, stickered, and air-dried for a minimum of fourteen months before they see a kiln.

Cut the joint

Every mortise and tenon is cut by hand. If the board fails the joint it goes back on the rack and the piece waits.

Cut the joint

Every mortise and tenon is cut by hand. If the board fails the joint it goes back on the rack and the piece waits.

Bend the shell

Two steam kilns, ninety minutes, one attempt. A shell that cracks is firewood — we do not glue-laminate a failure.

Bend the shell

Two steam kilns, ninety minutes, one attempt. A shell that cracks is firewood — we do not glue-laminate a failure.

Finish and sign

Hard-wax oil, four coats, hand-burnished between each. The maker signs the underside and the piece is numbered.

Finish and sign

Hard-wax oil, four coats, hand-burnished between each. The maker signs the underside and the piece is numbered.

Four rules we do not break

No veneer

Solid timber throughout, including the parts nobody sees.

Repairable

Every joint can be opened. We keep spares for a decade.

Numbered

Each piece carries its maker, its year, and its number.

Slow

Four to nine weeks. We have never shortened it.

If the wood fails the joint, the board goes back on the rack and the chair waits. That is the whole method.

Marit Løvaas — founder, bench 01

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