Solid furniture - unique designer furniture made of solid wood

We would like to explain the difference between solid wood furniture and other types of wood furniture. There are many arguments in favor of choosing the real and genuine piece of wood furniture when buying furniture. Even if it is more expensive than the usual pieces of furniture from the big furniture suppliers. We are talking about solid furniture as solid wood furniture or real wood furniture.

Solid furniture is made of pure, grown wood. Selected tree trunks are cut into lamellas in the sawmill, cut and planed. These boards, which are still rough, are sometimes stored and dried for years before they are processed further.

A lamella cannot be wider than the diameter of the log from which it was cut. So that pieces of furniture can be made from it, the lamellas have to be glued to form panels. Glue and a plate press ensure a permanent connection. A glued wood panel created in this way can then be processed, for example into a table, a cupboard, a chest or a bed.

The glued wood panels consist of boards that have been cut directly from the tree trunk. Cabinet makers and cabinet makers can now process them into a unique piece of furniture.

You can recognize solid furniture made of real wood by the repeatedly interrupted grain pattern. By gluing the individual lamellas or boards, it is unfortunately inevitable that the grain is interrupted. One slat is placed next to the other. This inevitably leads to an interruption in the course. It is precisely these special features of natural wood that make solid wood furniture unique. Furniture designers and interior decorators are always looking for interesting and unusual types of wood with which they can implement great new ideas.

Annual rings - The fascinating look of solid wood furniture

The look of veneered wood or plastic-coated furniture has little in common with solid wood furniture. Such wooden furniture usually has an uninterrupted grain. A veneer, also called real wood veneer, is a thin sheet of wood that has been peeled from a tree trunk. The wooden sheets are glued onto carrier plates. So veneers are just surface coatings. The main material of the furniture, the carrier boards, can be chipboard, for example. The wood sheets can be applied to such panels in such a way that the grain appears continuous and the panel looks like it is made of one piece.

Annual rings indicate the age of a tree. It is his lifelines. The lines represent the various phases of development of a tree. This natural grain of the wood signals the individuality of the tree, which a cabinet maker can work out specifically.

This art turns a wooden piece of furniture into a unique piece of furniture. A one-of-a-kind piece that won't be found a second time Annual rings contribute to the unique look of solid wood furniture. Anyone looking at such a piece of furniture will recognize its uniqueness and with a little sensitivity perhaps even guess the individuality of the tree from which it was created.

Solid wood - the robust durability of real wooden furniture

Before new techniques in furniture construction made surface coatings possible, all pieces of furniture were solid furniture made of solid wood. Solid wood furniture has existed since time immemorial. The thrones, tables and chairs, cupboards and chests, everything has always been made of pure wood. Wooden furniture from the millennia-old graves of the pharaohs can still be viewed in museums today. You not only have a life, but have survived time. Other materials, such as bamboo, were used simply for lack of trees. In recent times, due to the development of ever new technologies, pieces of furniture have also been made of plastics or light metals, such as shelves made of aluminum.

Solid wood furniture is worth every euro it costs more than the cheaper alternatives. Solid wood furniture is not only durable for a lifetime, but far beyond that.

They are easy to care for and can simply be wiped off with a damp cloth. It is even possible to freshen up areas faded by sunlight, for example with linseed oil.

Superficial scratches can be removed by carefully sanding the areas and then treating them with linseed oil. Often, however, this is not even necessary, because patina and signs of wear and tear make some solid furniture what it should be: a wonderful, natural object that can be lived on.

It is also wonderful that there is no glued-on coating that could peel off or split off at the corners and edges.

If you have a special piece of solid wood furniture in view and take a closer look at it, you will find that apart from the rear wall and the drawer bases, all parts of the piece of furniture are made of solid wood.

For the construction timbers that are not visible, cheaper types of wood, such as softwood, can be used. This can be support strips or the central spar. Nevertheless, these parts are also made of solid wood. Another quality feature of solid furniture is that it is made from a single type of wood, for example oak, walnut or beech wood.

Wood design - the quality of traditional craftsmanship

Cabinet making is traditional craftsmanship. Perfect design adds to the craft. Both together result in pieces of furniture of the highest quality. The solid furniture presented at Atelier Gusto is of high quality and absolutely worth every penny. Every single part of a solid piece of furniture is made by hand, made to measure and assembled into a unique designer piece. Wooden furniture made of real wood is solid and robust. They are works of art made of high-quality material that are hand-picked for processing.

Small production series guarantee a limited number of pieces of furniture of one design. With this you acquire valuable objects that you will hardly find anywhere else in the same way. Solid furniture is a luxury item at a fair price. Of course, every hand-made solid piece of furniture is more expensive than the alternative from the assembly line. But if you are looking for a unique piece of furniture for life and maybe even to inherit, then you cannot avoid solid wood furniture. There is no argument against buying furniture made of solid wood. If you are interested, you shouldn't use the higher price as a counter-argument, because top quality made of perfect material, perfect design and perfect manufacture is not available for free.

The art begins in the sawmill when the lamellas are glued. Only correct gluing prevents the wooden panel from bending later. Wood is a living material, it breathes and absorbs moisture from the air. This can cause it to deform. The individual lamellas must be glued together in such a way that they compensate for the changes. If this is not done well, the wooden board will curl and either no longer be used for furniture construction. Or it is already installed and curls up on the piece of furniture, that could perhaps be a table top or the seat of a chair. Because of this, the work of masters who have mastered their craft is worth the price.

Meister glued the slats from a solid table

Indoor climate - The improvement of the indoor air through solid furniture

Solid wood breathes and absorbs moisture that is in a room. This means that these pieces of furniture ensure a healthy indoor climate. Solid furniture is room humidity regulators. As long as the pores are open, i.e. the piece of furniture is not painted, it can breathe. The dry solid wood can store moisture in the room. The reduction in humidity also helps prevent mold. Solid wood has an antistatic effect so that dust and dirt do not stick to the piece of furniture. Unlike coated pieces of furniture made from chipboard or plywood, solid wood furniture does not emit any harmful gases, such as formaldehyde, which is found in the adhesive that is used to glue the wood chips. Solid wood furniture ensures a good room climate.

Solid furniture has another noteworthy aspect: it has a calming and relaxing effect. This is due to the naturalness of the material and the manual craftsmanship that goes into the solid wood furniture. If you are a little sensitive, you will feel the difference between coated cheap furniture and solid furniture made of solid wood. A healthy room climate is also created by the atmosphere of a room, which is significantly influenced by the furniture in it. Solid wood furniture has a natural aesthetic that hardly anyone can escape.

Naturalness - solid wood lives, works and takes time

Real wood lives and breathes. As a result, it changes over time. It changes color when exposed to sunlight. It can warp with temperature fluctuations. A cabinet maker knows these phenomena and knows how to deal with them. When gluing the lamellas together to form a glued wood panel, care is taken to ensure that the timbers are glued together so that they work against each other in order to prevent and compensate for later warping. This is the basis for solid wood, which can be described as solid and high quality. Solid wood furniture made from such a material can still be bequeathed to your grandchildren.

You have to dig a little deeper into your pockets for top quality material and manufacturing. Solid furniture is not one of those cheap products that are produced on an assembly line in a low-wage country. It is a top quality product that has been produced in limited numbers and represents real value. The prices for such furniture are relatively high, at least compared to the run-of-the-mill pieces of furniture in ordinary style and made of cheap materials. In fact, the prices for solid furniture are fair. They correspond to the high quality material and the intensive and high quality craftsmanship that goes into this wonderful designer furniture.

The solid furniture sold at Atelier Gusto is made of walnut or oak and comes from sustainably managed forests. The woods have been stored for years so that they are completely dry before processing and no longer work.

The older the woods used are and the longer the drying phase has taken, the better the wood quality.

It is obvious that you will have to reckon with a correspondingly high price for solid wood that has been cared for for years and prepared for the perfect piece of furniture. The price is also determined by the properties of a type of wood. Fast-growing trees and the woods taken from them are cheaper than slow-growing types of wood. In addition, hardwood is more expensive than softwood. It is like everything valuable: Rare, high-quality, carefully planned and perfectly processed items cost their price, whether it's a fine piece of solid wood furniture, a high-quality piece of jewelry or a custom-made car.

Environmental friendliness - wood chips or would you prefer solid wood?

There are people who consider pieces of furniture made from chipboard or plywood to be environmentally friendly. Their argument is that the wood chips from which the panels are made come from woods unsuitable for the manufacture of solid wood furniture. The wood shavings from these shredded pieces of wood are glued together and pressed together so that in the end they can still be used for furniture construction. It is then not a matter of solid wood furniture, but of veneered or plastic-coated pieces.

Unfortunately, the people who argue like this are on the wrong track - so to speak. On the one hand, trees that are unsuitable for the manufacture of solid furniture are specifically planted and cut down so that cheap furniture can be made from them. On the other hand, such pieces of furniture end up in the garbage very quickly and have to be replaced with new ones. It is also known that harmful substances are used to manufacture chipboard and plywood panels. For example, furniture made from chipboard emits carcinogenic formaldehyde, which is very often a component of adhesives.

Solid furniture is durable and therefore sustainable. Their use protects the environment in various ways. On the one hand, it is their robustness that has lasted for generations. Such wonderful pieces of furniture do not need to be replaced so quickly, if there is a need at all. And on the other hand, solid wood is a renewable raw material.

The woods that we use for our furniture construction come from sustainably managed forests. This means that only as many trees are cut down as are actually needed. The cut trees are replaced by new ones, so that no more is used than can grow back.

The transport routes from the forest to the sawmill and later to us are manageable. Unlike cheap furniture that is made in China and then shipped to Europe to be sold by the big furniture stores.

The solid furniture that we offer at Atelier Gusto is exactly the opposite of this production method. Our work interrupts this cycle, which cannot lead to anything good, and stands for beautiful pieces of furniture that you can have a good conscience when purchasing.