MAKING IT PERSONAL...
One of the more unique services that Clive Christian Furniture offers is personalisation using marquetry and inlays. Over the years, we have produced a huge array of bespoke pieces for our clients, ranging from monograms and family crests through to planes, trains and automobiles!
This highly skilled craft is steeped in history. The earliest examples can be found in relics recovered from ancient Egyptian tombs dating as far back as 2000BC. But the marquetry most commonly used in modern luxury cabinet making today originates from France in the mid-seventeenth century where it was used to create furniture of unprecedented luxury in Versailles and the other royal residences of Louis XIV.
Clive Christian Furniture’s artisans proudly continue this age-old art today. Their expertise has been learned from painstaking years of practice, with skills passed from one master craftsman to another. And this tradition still continues - we were delighted to recently welcome our latest marquetry apprentice, who joined us in January.
Clive Christian Furniture works with clients to turn their thoughts and ideas into beautiful artworks to adorn their cabinetry. Monograms and insignias are often used to personalise a bar, mantle, study or dressing room. But some clients can be more ambitious, and in some instances, the sky really is the limit - two of our more ornate projects recreated the skylines of Manhattan and Edinburgh.
For our London Mayfair studio, we created a statement table top displaying the iconic London Tube Map, with each individual line carefully mapped out to scale.
Oli Deadman, Clive Christian Furniture’s Head of Design says “Marquetry always creates such a talking point. For me, it works best when there is a story to tell and it has real meaning behind it.
One of my favourite projects was the kitchen mantle that we designed for Alec Wilson, owner of our Weybridge showroom. Alec has always had a love of motor sport and wanted something to celebrate the historic Brooklands Racing Circuit - the birthplace of The British Grand Prix and a local piece of motorsport heritage.
After extensive research, we designed an Art-Deco inspired illustration immortalising the Napier-Railton, driven by John Cobb. The design shows the record breaking car defying gravity as it grapples with Brooklands’ trademark soaring embankments. The panel was crafted using seven different varieties of veneer, all synonymous with interiors of classic British motor cars, and the end result looks fantastic.”
Clive Christian Furniture has created personalised cabinetry for clients across the globe. Whatever you have in mind, our design team can help to realise your aspirations, fashioning something completely unique and exclusive, and guaranteed to provide a focal point for your room.
For more information on how we can help click here.