Describe your profession, including details about your products, services, expertise and know-how
We specialize in the creation of marquetry objects: wall pieces, jewellery boxes, music boxes, desk accessories and marquetry furniture…
To produce these marquetry objects, we work with a wide variety of wood species: amaranth, walnut burl, rosewood… and we also combine wood with other materials such as brass, tortoiseshell and straw.
With more than 20 years of professional experience, we also restore furniture with a strong commitment to excellence.
If you wish to have an exceptional piece of furniture or a bespoke box made, we are at your disposal.
What materials do you use? How and where do you source them?
The main material used in marquetry is wood.
There are more than 25,000 botanically classified wood species around the world. However, trees of the same species can display very different colours and patterns depending on each individual. Like human beings, a tree is a living organism that reacts to its environment, the soil in which it grows, the climate, the altitude, and the density of the forest. All these factors influence its texture, size and appearance.
Here are some of the different visual characteristics of cut wood:
- Moiré wood: the wood shows shifting, wavy, non-uniform reflections.
- Speckled wood: the surface is regularly dotted with small knots of roughly equal size.
- Pommeled wood: the wood displays small rounded shapes placed next to one another.
- Burr wood: this veneer is mainly cut from the base of a tree (near the roots). The fibres are intertwined and twisted.
- Figured (mesh) wood: the surface is covered with small, dense, darker and slightly glossy grains.
- Burls and excrescences: burl veneer comes from a growth on the tree, often caused by injury, fungi, or insect activity. These formations result from numerous dormant buds that cannot develop.
Once the design is created, the marquetry artisan selects from this wide range of wood types to achieve specific decorative effects. It is precisely this diversity that gives marquetry its richness.
In addition to wood, other materials may also be used in marquetry: tortoiseshell, bone, straw, as well as metals such as brass and pewter.
Describe the techniques, tools and materials you use in your work
Marquetry techniques
Marquetry artisans in Germany developed a method known as “Tarsia a incastro.”
Two or three sheets of veneer from different wood species are placed on top of one another and cut simultaneously following the design. The cut pieces are then inlaid by alternating light and dark shapes, creating decorative positive and negative effects. This technique was later adopted and developed by André-Charles Boulle, the renowned cabinetmaker of King Louis XIV.
The classic “piece-by-piece” method: more complex but the most widely used, as it allows the simultaneous production of several identical motifs with great precision and efficiency. A suitable veneer is chosen for each element of the design. All elements are glued onto their respective veneers and then cut separately.
Today, around one hundred marquetry artisans are active, most of them cabinetmakers specialized in interior decoration: wood paneling, marquetry panels, jewellery boxes, music boxes…
Given the precision of the assembly, untrained observers often mistake a marquetry panel for a painting when viewed from a distance.
Where and how long were you trained before starting your business? What is, in your opinion, the best way to learn this craft today?
I am a member of the Compagnons des Devoirs, a network dedicated to the transmission of knowledge and professional identity through craftsmanship.
After obtaining a diploma in Arts and Crafts specializing in cabinetmaking and marquetry, and 12 years of experience in various workshops—restoration, box-making, and furniture design—I established myself in 1997 as a cabinetmaker-marquetry artisan in Dommartin (Doubs), creating the workshop “Le Bois Plaisir.”
In this workshop, I create marquetry and marquetry-decorated objects, including jewellery boxes, music boxes, marquetry panels, small furniture, desk accessories, and marquetry furniture.
To create these pieces, I use wood from more than sixty different species, allowing for a wide variety of complex marquetry designs. In addition to wood, I also incorporate other materials such as tortoiseshell, bone, straw, as well as metals like brass and pewter.
