Ever wonder how furniture makers get stiff, sturdy wood to adopt the kinds of elegant curves you see in chairs, pianos and even the shingles that adorn dome-shaped structures" Sometimes it?s soaked, and sometimes it?s steamed. Steam bending is an ancient art that uses heat and moisture inside a “steam box” to make wood temporarily pliable. It is then shaped by craftspeople, clamped and allowed to harden.
No single designer is more renowned for steam-bent wood creations than Tom Raffield, who has spent his career hand making sustainably crafted lighting and furniture in his Cornwall, England studio. With lots of practice, Raffield developed his own way of using steam to twist and bend wood into all sorts of surprising shapes, a process that requires no toxic glues and produces very little waste.
With a resume like that, it?s no surprise that Raffield?s own home is a showcase of his techniques and skills. Set on six acres of ancient woodland in rural England, the two-story dwelling is an architectural take on his steam-bent furniture and lighting designs, made almost entirely from sustainably sourced wood harvested from the property.
Raffield stretched narrow strips of timber across the facade of his home and bent it around every corner, with curves taking the place of sharp angles. The bent wood acts as exterior cladding and railing for a second-floor terrace, and also functions as decorative trim on an adjacent structure that once served as a gamekeeper?s ...