René LeBel, Crosswind (RECYCLED & RESCUED 2024)

Photos:

René LeBel

Country:

Canada

I find using salvaged wood to create inspires creativity rather than being a limitation. The wood is never perfect for furniture or other objects, so rather than getting wood to meet a design, the constraints of the material can drive the design and encourages creativity. For this piece, the top is made from several small pieces of unknown wood taken from a pallet. The pieces were small with variable grain and colour. Cutting them into small pieces of veneer and arranging them randomly was the solution to get unity from variability and stretch the few pieces to cover a larger area. The legs are from salvaged jatoba flooring pulled from a house after 25 years of use. Single planks were cut and joined with mitered corners to build up the volume need to support the top.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.