“Blackened wood is having a moment, be it lacquered, stained, charred, or oxidized, and we’re all in. For those who dare to join us, here’s a roundup of our favorite noirish pieces.”
– VIEW MORE: REMODELISTA
Above: From charred wood experts reSAWN TIMBER co., the Credenza 1 has a case of shou sugi ban treated wood with pale maple doors and oxidized maple accents.
“Olson Kundig combines an ancient Japanese wood-burning technique with 21st-century interaction design at Design Miami/Basel Collectors’ Lounge.”
KEVIN SCOTT
Regional building styles and construction techniques weave a complex history that reflects the qualities, cultures, and narratives of a particular place. Olson Kundig took this to another level when designing Outpost Basel, an architectural pavilion at the Design Miami/Basel Collectors’ Lounge in Basel, Switzerland. The wood construction legacies of several places came together to create a bespoke structure that embodies the global design culture in which we operate.
The architects hail from Seattle, in the heart of the Pacific Northwest’s timber country. They brought their innovative mastery of materials to Western Europe, where companies like the Austrian goliath Holzindustrie Schweighofer are pushing wood technologies forward in new ways. The two worked together in Romania to construct the pavilion out of a wood-block system that is typically used as formwork for concrete and then discarded afterwards. Instead of using the wood bricks to create forms, the architects decided to give them a rich black hue by charring them with a traditional Japanese wood-burning preservation technique, completing the international mélange that makes the project unique.
In the center of the lounge is a large box made from the wood blocks provided by Schweighofer. The designers liked the raw look of the wood blocks, so they left them unfinished. The system is a series of wooden parts that are doweled together, “like IKEA furniture, avoiding screws,” Olson Kundig principal Tom Kundig told AN. The light walls were quickly and easily constructed to form the interior volume, and a series of openings were inserted by shifting the blocks according to the Fibonacci sequence. Once the walls were erected, they were charred using “Shou Sugi Ban,” an ancient technique that has been used in Japan to protect untreated wood against rot and insects. It was also an important way to fireproof villages before modernity. The process involves charring the wood and then using different oils to achieve different effects, while changing the intensity and exposure of the torch to produce varying levels of charring. At first, Schweighofer—who has been a leader in the wood processing industry for more than four centuries—was skeptical of the unusual idea, but eventually executed it at their Romanian compound, treating the blocks before they were shipped to Basel. They used a torch to apply the burn to the surface, and after two coats of torch, they put a sealing oil on the surface which sets the finish and reduces the risk of the black soot rubbing off (on people’s clothes in Basel). The inside of the space was left raw, so that it maintained the warmth of the wood blocks, while the burnt black exterior relates to the rest of the space in which the pavilion sits.
“FOR THE OUTPOST BASEL PAVILION, OLSON KUNDIG INTEGRATED SEVERAL WOOD CONSTRUCTION LEGACIES, FROM A WOODBLOCK SYSTEM IMPLEMENTED WITH AN AUSTRIAN COMPANY IN ROMANIA TO THE ANCIENT JAPANESE PROCESS KNOWN AS SHOU SUGI BAN.”
– SOURCE: http://archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=8215
Charred Wood by reSAWN Timber is offered in natural, but also vibrant, tones.
reSAWN Timber: Charred Wood
reSAWN applies the Japanese charring technique of shou sugi ban to cypress, black walnut, red oak, or reclaimed hemlock, then finishes the woods with colorful oil for an even more striking aesthetic. Recently, the manufacturer added 18 new colors to this line ranging from neutrals to heavily saturated hues such as pink and cyan. All but two of the new colors are suitable for both interior and exterior cladding in commercial and residential settings. Different levels of black finish are also offered and result in dramatic backdrops.
KURO shou sugi ban exterior and interior wood siding
pinku-shou-sugi-ban-select
reSAWN is pleased to announce that our CHARRED collection of shou sugi ban woods are now available treated to a Class A Fire Rating for Interior Applications. Contact us to learn more about specifying CHARRED wood for exterior siding, interior wall cladding and custom furniture.
IRUKA :: one of the newest designs from reSAWN, Iruka features shou sugi ban charred cypress finished with a metallic silver
Charred Japanese cedar clads the exterior of this split-level house in Izumo, Japan, by Kanazawa studio Harunatsu-Arch. The architects chose to clad the exterior with charred Japanese cedar boards, giving the building a blackened textural surface that contrasts with the smooth concrete foundation slab.
http://www.dezeen.com/2014/10/22/harunatsu-arch-gui-house-japan/
Combining traditional solid wood furniture craftsmanship with shou-sugi-ban charred woods to create unique, modern pieces
For his project at the Palais de Tokyo, Bernard Aubertin decided to produce a series of “fire-paintings”.
The French artist Bernard Aubertin met Yves Klein in 1957. After this capital meeting he painted his his first red monochromes. In 1961, Bernard Aubertin joined ZERO, a German artists’ group made up of (Otto Piene, Heinz Mack and Günther Uecker). With them Aubertin shared a distrust of language: “Art isn’t expression, it’s knowledge. You don’t have something to say, you can only be” (Bernard Aubertin). For Aubertin, monochrome painting is the best way to free oneself from the painter’s gesture and, in doing so, give rise to a pure space and an anonymous vital energy. Ascribing a prophetic, liberating value to the color red and “levitating fire,” in which he sees a materialization of “extrasensory” culture, Aubertin has tirelessly developed his many series of paintings, the “monochromes,” “squares,” “reds,” “fires,” “golds” and so on.
The “fire-paintings” are fashioned from matches, which leave only traces of smoke and charred wood in the end. Aubertin sees them as so many manifestations of the power of art materials.
Internationally renowned Italian sculptor Aron Demetz makes use of traditional woodcarving techniques to create sculptures that often convey his preoccupation with humanity’s relationship to nature. Rather than presenting polished and perfected works, Demetz revels in the wood’s textures and its transformation through various natural processes. The charred human sculptures evoke feelings of vulnerability – of both the wooden materials they are composed of and the human figures they represent. Demetz’s sculptures present mankind and nature as one, reflecting the fragility of both.
MODERN LAKE HOUSE in VERNON, BC featuring shou-sugi-ban CHARRED wood exterior siding – MOYASU from reSAWN TIMBER co.’s CHARRED collection
reSAWN’s CHARRED collection features cypress, yellow pine and red oak that is burnt in the Japanese tradition of shou-sugi-ban. translated as “the burning of Japanese cypress (sugi)”, and traditionally used in Japan as exterior siding, this ancient technique is gaining new life as a unique and modern interior and exterior wall cladding. The wood is carefully charred, misted with water, cooled, brushed to remove dust and loose debris, and then stained/sealed to create the unique designs you will find in the CHARRED collection. The top coat sealer is applied prior to shipping (for exterior applications, we recommend sealing the face & back). the charcoal barrier created through this process preserves the wood, and is fire, rot and insect resistant. the burning process accentuates the wood grain and creates varying colors when viewed from different angles and in different light.
The Value of a Natural Product is Without Equal
