This site uses cookies to improve your browsing experience. By continuing you accept the use of cookies.
„With nature it’s easy. You don’t have to work anything, to design anything. Just find some nice, old wood, slice it, if it’s beautiful, use it, if it’s not, don’t use it. It’s very simple.“
Hisao Hanafusa
Introduction to materials
In the Croatian countryside, quality cabinetmaker’s timber is difficult to find at your local lumber yard, sometimes even impossible. It’s an irony. The necessity of working with best timber has encouraged Tomislav and Matej to come up with their own sustainable operation for acquiring material. Their trees aren’t the result of mass deforestation, but predominantly local, old, oftentimes diseased or dead trees, as well as trees felled during construction work or storms. They are cut by the local miller solely in their presence and according to their specifications. This maximizes material aesthetics and efficiency, something that could not be archieved in any other way. The tree’s shape, size and structure define the cutting method. In doing so, great attention is paid to the natural potential of each log. For instance, some trees are ideal for crafting cabinets, while others are more suited for large table tops. The selection of certain planks is sometimes done in the presence of the client to ensure that the final product suits their personal taste and needs as much as possible.
So, for the last 10 years the studio has accumulated enough lumber to become its own lumber yard. Rare, wide and extremely beautiful slabs of several sought-after species that are properly cured are constantly on hand and ready to be used in the most demanding projects. As of 2023, the following types of wood are available: European walnut, black walnut, pear, ash and smaller quantities of oak, cherry and mulberry.
European Walnut
On the Internet, in woodworking magazines and various other literature, there are several names for European walnut in use, with “English walnut”, “Persian walnut”, “Turkish walnut” and “French walnut” being the most popular ones. On this website, it is referred to simply as “walnut”, for practical purposes.
Walnut is and will be Majcan&Majcan’s specialty. It is one of the world’s most stunning hardwoods with the richest color and figure of all Croatian domestic trees, except maybe pear. Walnut trees are somewhat peculiar in that they have to be old to be of any real value. The wood’s beautiful figure and color are the result of the tree’s gradual deterioration from the center out. It’s getting harder and harder to find such good specimens, because they usually grow in people’s gardens and people’s yards, next to houses and other buildings, which makes salvaging even more complicated and expensive.
The variety in the appearance of timber from tree to tree is tremendous. Each tree is full of individual character. Therefore, finding two that match well can become an impossible task. In order to have a selection of planks from a single tree, the wood is dried in “boule form”. In other words, the log is sawn through and then stacked back together to reform the shape of the original log. A very high wastage factor due to faults, knots, rot, insects and oftentimes very ugly sapwood is another issue. So ironically, it’s a very hard material to work with.
Careful and sensible use of materials such as walnut could help raise awareness of its importance and enormous potential for local communities, something that is, sadly, disregarded more and more.
Sourcing
Trees are being found through an interwoven network of friends, colleagues and arborists. They are usually landmark trees of great age and size and normally past their prime in the ordinary commercial sense. They are discards according to the industry.
Every log acquired and milled to this date is completely trackable – the owner and the location are known, as is usually the reason why the tree doesn’t stand anymore. The location’s distance from the workshop rarely exceeds 15 kilometers. The idea of being transparent is taken extremely seriously.
Curing process
The wood is cured naturally, without energy consumption. It slowly dries in the open, sheltered from rain, sun and strong winds. Depending on the thickness of the planks, drying can take anywhere from 3 to 10 years. If possible, it is preferable that the process take even longer. After that, however, the wood still isn’t ready to be used in fine work. It is transferred into a heated indoor space with conditions similar to those in which the furniture shall be kept. The second drying phase lasts for at least another season. Only then is the wood completely ready for use. The first pieces of furniture from locally procured wood are already in production.
