Woodworking: Traditional Craft for Modern Living

By Samina Langholz, Andrea Brugi and Ditte Isager

Using simple techniques, Tuscany-based woodworkers Samina Langholz and Andrea Brugi teach you how to make 20 beautiful wood objects for the home. From an egg cup made from a reclaimed beam and broom handle to a chopping board featuring a hand-carved "butterfly" – an old trick for stabilising a crack - here are a wonderful selection of approachable carpentry projects that don't require complicated tools, and can be done easily in the home. Suitable for all levels of expertise – even the complete beginner – the simple and accessible step-by-step instructions are accompanied by stunning location photography. Inspired by the rustic lifestyle of rural Italy and the unspoiled views of olive groves that surround them, Samina and Andrea make beautiful carpentry pieces and this book will inspire you to recreate them in your own home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Mar 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781911127826

Book preview

Woodworking: Traditional Craft for Modern Living

WOODWORKING

TRADITIONAL CRAFT FOR MODERN LIVING

Samina Langholz and Andrea Brugi

With photography by Ditte Isager

Contents

INTRODUCTION

Confluence of Minds

Broken is Beautiful

WORKING WITH WOOD

Stories of Wood

Stories of Tools

Techniques

PROJECTS

FOUND WOOD

Egg Cup

Wardrobe/Closet Rail

Giant Keychain

Broom

Ladder

SOLID WOOD

Doorstop

Bedside Table

Cheeseboard

Tool Holder

Wooden Lids

RECLAIMED WOOD

Magnetic Knife Holder

Chopping Board

Floor Construction

Bench

Table

FINE WOOD

Mini Constructions

Skewer Handle

Stirrer

Laundry Basket

Weathervane

RESOURCES

Suppliers

Acknowledgements

CONFLUENCE OF MINDS

WE WORK CLOSELY ON EVERY IDEA. Our ethos is very simple: do more with less; let each project unfold organically; always be open to possibilities; welcome mistakes and learn from them; let simple, found and readily available materials embolden your design and decisions.

Montemerano is located approximately 300 metres (984 feet) above sea level, in the Maremma area in the south of Tuscany. The village on the small mountain is exactly placed between the Mediterranean Sea and the mountains of Mont Amiata. It’s the perfect climate for the 400- to 1,000-year-old olive trees and their fruit, which grow on the slopes and in the valleys around the little town. This is where Andrea grew up, surrounded by nature, craftsmen and the simple things in life; among people with a passion.

Today we live in one of those seventeenth-century houses in Montemerano. Ours was built in 1678 and we have renovated every square metre with our bare hands – absolutely nothing has been left to chance. Living in a village with 350 people might seem boring or uninspiring, but for Andrea it is all about the nature, the smells, the past, the stories that inspire him. He is a product of his village. He wouldn’t work as he does, think as he does or be who he is if he was born anywhere else, he says.

I used to be the old-fashioned girl, living in Copenhagen, on my bike, enjoying flea markets, collecting antiques and just loving my home with crystal wine glasses, colourful oil paintings and oriental rugs from floor to ceiling. Then we met, in his beautiful medieval village, and this genuine, authentic craft slowly took over our lives. It is all about good memories. The life here is very simple. And it has always been that way. We hope that we will be able to bring up our daughter Gloria in the same spirit.

– Samina Langholz

BROKEN IS BEAUTIFUL

Wood is such a huge part of our lives. I would almost say, wood is our life, it has become our partner in life, and we have such a passion and respect for all its vagaries and complexities.

We like to keep things simple; we don’t like to overdo an idea. Andrea has always felt that our work should be something every person needs in their home. A piece you enjoy using and which gets more beautiful the more you use it. Without doubt, each finished item has its own distinctive character. As you work with natural wood you will never achieve a polished, perfect result. Every piece is unique in its own way. Two chopping boards of the same size and shape will never be exactly the same. This unique expression is in stark contrast to that achieved by advanced technology and mass production, which automatically generates perfect, identical products. And we believe this is our good fortune. The proliferation in new technology has created a new need in people – an obsession for the opposite; a strong desire for something imperfect, warm and human, which adds that final personal touch to their modern home.

We are all so confident in our own tastes and how we want to live now, and it somehow makes a product less attractive, less representative of who you are, if anybody can just go to a store and buy the exact same thing. You could almost say that the imperfect has become the perfect and that there is a new pursuit for true craftsmanship. Our work just feels very natural – we do not spend too much time thinking about it.

From the very beginning, everything happened a little by coincidence, and we’d like to continue working in this spirit. Neither of us has a background in design, and we don’t set out to create a specific object; our new pieces usually pop up while we are working on something else. This process never feels like work, and this is truly a privilege.

Our work today still contains elements of the traditional, but is more creative and contemporary than our previous work. This is not something we set out to do intentionally. In the end it is always about the right confluence of minds. The right match. Like finding your soulmate. What is it that brings out the best in you? When we met, we never made a conscious decision to go into business. It all started in Easter 2005 while we were restoring some pieces