Form & Function

In search of the perfect pillow.

furnitureforkeeps — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:01:58 +0000

Four years ago we decided that our pillows at home were well past their best-before date, and that it was time for a change. One of our customers had told us about his wonderful alpaca wool pillows and, knowing how fussy he is about quality, we tracked them down and ordered a few to test. After trying four or five different pillows over the years, from Hungarian white goose down to latex and wool mixed, to specially-shaped “orthopedic” pillows, we’ve finally found our favorite combination of comfort, shape retention and breathability.

Organic cotton pillow encasement

Our Alpaca Pillows have a casing of 100% organic cotton, with a very tight weave to provide a barrier to skin scales and dust mites ( and what the mites leave behind after lunch). So unlike most pillows which are supposed to be replaced every few years to avoid an allergen build-up, our Alpaca Pillows will stay fresh and clean for years. Still, we suggest another protector over the pillow, before the pillow case goes on. Our Pillow Encasement is made of the same super tightly woven organic cotton as the casing, with a zipper to allow removal for hot water washing. This provides one more allergen barrier as well as protecting your pillow from hair oil, makeup, perspiration etc.

Many of our customers have started with the Alpaca Pillows, and then try our Alpaca Duvets. In our home we switched from down to Alpaca and we love the difference. Because each Alpaca fibre is hollow, an Alpaca Duvet requires much less fill than down or feather or sheep wool, and so each duvet is remarkably light, yet insulating. We also find that these duvets are more breathable than the alternatives, and so a comfortable body temperature is easy to maintain. Like our Alpaca Pillows, our Alpaca Duvets are encased with the same Austrian organic cotton casing. The same 4.5 micron weave ensures that dust mites and their 10 micron “post-lunch offerings” cannot penetrate the casing, so your Alpaca Pillows and Duvet remain immaculately clean without washing or dry cleaning.

The VERUS Breadboard Table

furnitureforkeeps — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 09:46:57 +0000

For more than 15 years, our VERUS Breadboard Table has been a favorite design at Form & Function.

The Arts and Crafts details like the apron tenons brought through and exposed on each leg, and the corbel supports, reference a solidity and strength, key elements of this style.

The breadboard ends are uniquely joined by square Walnut pins, which connect these elements in a “floating joint,” without any glue needed. In fact, the breadboard ends cannot be fastened with glue or else the table top will not be able to expand and contract, as solid wood does throughout seasonal weather changes.

The Breadboard table shown including top, apron and corbel supports has been hand-crafted in our workshop, using three sequentially-sawn Cherry boards from the same massive Black Cherry log. This technique allows us to offer perfect matching grain and colour. The legs have been cut from one Cherry board, 3″ thick, to ensure there are no unsightly lamination lines to interrupt the flow of grain.

At Form & Function, we have no “standard” sizes for this table or any of our other table designs. We build it to suit the room size and number of people, and it may be a fixed size or it may have one or multiple leaves. We can build it without the corbels or through-tenons for a more contemporary room, the legs can be tapered for a lighter look, and even the top thickness can be varied to suit the scale of the space.

To learn more about this table, or to inquire about other pieces, please contact us.

The VERUS Trestle Table, Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)

furnitureforkeeps — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:36:55 +0000

We’ve been building trestle base tables since the ’80′s, but we hadn’t been inspired to revisit this practical design for years. Then we thought that this might be the ideal base design to show our natural-edge table tops to best advantage. We offer this table with either a 2-board top or a 3 or 4-board top. A unique detail of our table tops is that the boards comprising the top are sawn in sequence, from one side of a single hardwood log.

The table shown, for example is made from 2 Cherry boards, each of which is 22″ wide. This requires that the log come from a tree which is at least twice as old as even the very highest grade of production-quality lumber. The goal is provide a visually ”quiet” table top, unbroken by boards which are cut from different trees, discordant in colour and grain pattern. This is especially important to us, as we rarely apply coloured stains to our Cherrywood. The advantages are several. A clear finished Cherry table showcases the unique copper colour of Cherry as it ages, and highlights the unique “chatoyance”, or cats-eye figure of the wood. And since we typically build tables for living rooms not precious rooms, signs of daily use do not show up as they do on stained surfaces, where the thin top coat colour may vary greatly from the natural wood colour below. We have also removed the tree bark and left a scrubbed, natural edge on both sides of the table top, though we could offer it trimmed if so desired.

For the table shown here, we chose Black Walnut for the cross stretcher, though of course it could be built in all Cherry. Like all of our furniture, we can also offer this table in Black Walnut, Tiger Maple (Eastern Red Maple) or Quarter-sawn White Oak, all from sequentially-sawn timbers, with a matching or contrasting wood stretcher.

The VERUS Trestle Table could also be scaled down to be a low coffee table, or made up to 11′ long or possibly longer, for a conference table.

Everything old is new again!

furnitureforkeeps — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:51:27 +0000

In 1907 Marshall Burms Lloyd invented a process to weave twisted kraft paper around steel wire, thereby revolutionizing the wicker industry. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Lloyd Loom furniture set the standard for extremely durable, comfortable and weather-resistant woven furnture.

At Form & Function, we are pleased to present the complete line of Lloyd Loom furniture for indoors and out, currently produced in Britain by Lloyd Loom of Spalding.

The outdoor range is made with stainless steel wire and a special UV-resistant material called Rehau cord, produced in Germany and rugged enough to be left outdoors year round but elegant enough to be used indoors.

The indoor range we receive “in the white”, that is without finish. This is allows us to finish your Lloyd Loom in wood stains to match your cabinetry or furniture, or in any colour from any paint manufacturer. This includes, of course, the Farrow and Ball range from England!

We invite you to click on the “Lloyd Loom of Spalding” link at the bottom of this page to see the entire design range.

http://www.lloydloom.com/

The VERUS Bow-End Table, Curly Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)

furnitureforkeeps — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 23:05:06 +0000

Our VERUS Bow-End Table is a variation of our 1989 Shaker-influenced Canterbury Table. The added details include 2 bread-boarded, bow-end pieces attached to each end of the table top using dry-fitted tenons which are “pinned” by square pegs of Black Walnut. There is no glue used, so the joint can move with the seasons. This shows a delightful “evidence of the hand”, rarely seen in factory-made furniture. It requires a very skillful hand to execute perfectly. One slip of the square-mortising chisel and the top is ruined! The legs are also given a little added dimension in the top section.

The table shown is a fixed size, which we build to suit the room size and number of chairs to be accomodated. Like all of our VERUS tables, it is also available with one or multiple leaves in any width or length. Not sure of the optimum size for your room or not-yet-built room? Just call and talk to Susan! She lives and breathes space-planning, and will gladly help with your architect’s or builder’s floor plans. If its an existing room, she always suggests a visit to check dimensions, scale of the room and details of any existing furniture.

Bye bye brass, hello Cherrywood and glass

furnitureforkeeps — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 06:04:41 +0000

Lynne’s bright and shiny brass & glass coffee table has found a new home, and we think her new Elizabeth Cherrywood (Prunus serotina) conversation table is adjusting very nicely to its new home. We gave George Johnstone a break from all the heavy dininig tables he’s been making, and he enjoyed fitting the mitred top together beautifully, and making sure the 10mm bevelled glass insert fitted exactly.

A Haven indoors or out.

furnitureforkeeps — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 05:45:45 +0000

Barlow Tyrie’s outdoor “Haven Chair” is built to withstand any weather, any season, any where.

After our finisher, Sakib, waves his magic finishing wand, it looks great as an indoor chair that doesn’t overwhelm a small space. Shown with the matching footstool.

(The footstool just looks a little larger than it is; we forgot the telephoto lens at home.)

New Elizabeth Bar Stool

furnitureforkeeps — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 05:24:58 +0000

We’ve been building our Elizabeth Chair for a number of years, but this is our first Elizabeth Bar Stool. Under the watchful eye of Ian Johnstone, our newest team member, Nick Blacklaws,did a beautiful job of building a matched pair of Curly Cherrywood stools.

Although this quick pic is of one of the stools just 2 days old, you can easily see the curly figure starting to show. This will develop over the next year or two to show the spectacular result of carefully-matched Curly Black Cherrywood (Prunus serotina).

Enjoy your gorgeous new bar stools, Rob!

The Birth Of A Table

furnitureforkeeps — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 04:47:36 +0000

This is an example of a beautiful Black Cherrywood log which we recently purchased. You can see that it has been sawn into a number of planks of even thickness, ideal for a large dining table or two. We are very fortunate to have a close relationship with a family-owned sawmill located near the finest sustainably-harvested Black Cherrywood in the world. Their sawing method, known as “through and through sawing”, yields maximum width boards which are perfectly matched in grain and colour. This allows us to build table tops, cabinet drawer faces etc. of very wide, matched boards, completely different from even the highest grades of factory-built furniture. The logs we buy are also far above North American “grading rules”. In fact, our log buyer competes with veneer log buyers who choose only the crème de la crème of hardwood logs. Do all these considerations make for furniture that is stronger or more durable? Not necessarily; that is up to the skill of the furniture maker as he planes, edge-joints and assembles a piece of furniture. But it certainly produces a more beautiful result, with each Cherrywood board flowing harmoniously into the next. It also allows the finisher to bring out the colour and natural figure of the wood without the need for stains, since the colour is matched perfectly.

VERUS Images coming soon!

furnitureforkeeps — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 03:03:27 +0000

We know, we know, we haven’t shown you any of our VERUS hardwood furniture range on our website.

Well, that’s about to change! Until we can make (note we didn’t say get) the time to organize some of our 600+ images for the website, we’ll start to show you a number of photos that have made it past photography, film scanning (yes, we’re analog people in a digital world), and photoshopping.

For those of you who don’t know Form & Function, most of our time and energy for the past 20 or so years has gone into building, in our own workshop, a wide range of hardwood interior furniture. Susan designs most of what we build, based on the size and scale of the intended space and the particular needs and wants of each owner. Consequently, we almost never build exactly the same thing twice. Hence the hundreds of archived images on file, covering dining tables, chairs, sideboards, media cabinets, bookcases, desks, file cabinets, bed frames, chests of drawers and much more.

So we will make a start today. Its only been 10 years of thinking about it. We take comfort in the words of Francis of Assisi.

“Start by doing what’s necessary, then do what’s possible. then suddenly you are doing the impossible.”