The idea for this Stereo music unit derived from Rietveld's Elling sideboard, which shows how you can adapt such pieces for new functions. The bottom of the Elling sideboard rails were pared down for a cleaner look, as it's not the tallest piece of furniture. This unit makes for a very striking yet practical piece firmly in the Rietveld stijl. This is in keeping with Rietveld's approach, as he would adapt his own designs for bespoke commissions. A couple of photos below is a detail of some of the base rails, which show the complexity of the piece and the absolute precision required in marking it out and assembling it. The 3rd photo below shows the top which was made to show the wood grain, and not leave a perfect smooth top; Rietveld was ever the craftsman all his life and most of his work has a craft feel to it.

This new commission will be for an oak finish stereo unit, but it can be finished in any colour or combination of colours you want, from a single colour to typical Rietveld De Stijl colours, as shown below. The frame on this piece had to be very strong as it had to hold quite some weight, as the amps & LP's are very heavy (the bottom amp alone weighs 82 lbs / 37kg!!!!). As this is made to order it could be any size or colour you like, we can adapt these pieces to create a new design. We don't discuss sizes or pricing until we've agreed the specification with the customer.

The finished piece in the customer's home;

Different design & finishing options for the same piece;

Work in progress photos;

Making furniture is a practical business. While we all love to see photos of the finished ieces, construction photos of them being produced are equally interesting, especially if it's your piece being made, it tells the story of the piece. Starting out with a pile of rough sawn boards, they get machined smooth and dimensioned before marking out and assembly can slowly start. It is a dusty environment during this stage in the workshop, even with air extraction. Once all the components are cut to size and joints cut, we start to assemble small sections at a time, and building up assembling 2 or more finished sections. Special care, especially on a piece like this, is paid to checking the squareness of each section as it is assembled - 1 piece out of square now can have a bad knock on effect on the finished look of the piece.

At this stage wood finish samples are sent to the customer for approval. With a piece like this finishing is complicated for 2 reasons; a) there are 2 finishes being used, wood and black. b) we can not do the final assembly of the piece until every section has been individually stained or painted and then lacquered for protection. The reason being it would be impossible to get to all of the areas and do a professional finish if it were assembled first. Once the finishing is done then we can do the final assembly to show the finished piece.

Make no mistake this is engineering in wood, to very strick tolerances, and customers pay for this manufacturing skill and attention to detail.

Similar designs;

The bottom piece of furniture shows a similar design idea we did, which can be used as a large coffee table or as a TV / music unit; this is shown in the tables section. The desk above was a more recent piece playing further with the ideas of the Elling sideboard. There is a web page just for the desk.

These designs are being recorded as they are added to the website. The images may not be reproduced without our express written permission and or consent. All rights reserved.