Artistic statements in cabinetry and cabinet hardware

Walter Jaeger, of Jeager and Ernst recently sent me his original cabinetry design for a master bedroom closet and dressing room project. The cabinet wall incorporates stained glass with embossed plant stems and mushroom and tree cabinet pulls from our collection of cabinet hardware. The woodwork will be finished in Sherwin William’s satin white paint making for a simple backdrop that will accentuate the decorative components. The design is both artistic and practical with the pocket doors on the left (see above banner image) opening to the master bathroom and dressing hall and with each door decorated with a stained-glass water droplet, custom made, by Mary Lu Winger Bennett. Mary is an artisan known in Virginia for her stained glass restoration projects as well as her contemporary pieces. For stained glass enthusiasts, I recommend you check our Mary’s work at Crossroads Art Center.

Cabinet design courtesy Jaeger & Ernst Tree pulls Mushroom cabinet pulls

Photo courtesy of Mary Lu Winger for other works

I asked Walter Jaeger what had inspired the cabinet and was not surprised to hear he is an admirer of Renee MacIntosh’s work, the Scottish architect and artist of the Victorian era. MackIntosh’s work is known for its rich symbolism and for its influence on European Art Nouveau, a style that I have mentioned in many posts.
Jaeger and Ernst are cabinet makers based in Virginia where they are known for their excellence in design and workmanship which is clear from the rendering below.
The mushroom, hedgerow round and half round cabinet pulls were finished in polished nickel with strategic areas darkened to accentuate their 3-dimensional form.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ALL AT MARTIN PIERCE HARDWARE

We wish you festive seasonal cheer and hope that next year will be a happier and healthier year for all.

A Collage Made Using Our Hedgerow Small Tree and Our Moth Cabinet Pull

The flotilla of moths is a design that we will be staying with for the cover of our new cabinet pull catalogue which we will be adding to our site next year. Stay tuned as we update our website to include more cabinet pull photographs, drawing and other details.

More to life than door handles

The rains have turned the area we live in into a beautiful landscape full of trees in blossom and nesting birds in what is still a dense but thriving urban environment.

With the recent 3-day weekends we have been able to walk for hours in the Hollywood hills and were able to capture some lovely and surprising views.

What is always startling is how quickly the grasses spring to life and turn the hills into a verdant intensely green landscape. While the Hollywood sign is a familiar view it is great to see it through a curtain of green leaves.

The bottle bush trees are a familiar sight but when in full foliage they take on the character of a weeping willow with their fine dropping branches. In the Willow sprig pull these flowing tendrils are captured in molten bronze. The handles are available as either right or left cabinet pulls but, in the photo, we accentuated their weight by superimposing these 2 handles.

Mule deer also reside in these hills and we saw whole families of them grazing happily on the lush vegetation.

We spotted a pair of ravens preening each other whilst perched on a bare sycamore branch.

Several of the photos were taken from the vantage point of the Hollywood reservoir which is also a great place for bird spotting as it is frequented by herons, egrets and the occasional osprey.

Kitchen Design Inspired By Trees

Hedgerow Branch Cabinet Pull

When we decided to remodel our 1926 kitchen we were able to tap into our experience as furniture and cabinet makers which gave us access to local lumber yards, wood finishers and wood duplicating machines. As a wood carver Martin was able to create two unique tree patterns that were then reproduced by a wood duplicator to create multiple tree feet for the cabinetry.

A wood duplicator is a machine that works rather like a pantograph. Duplicators vary in terms of the number and size of multiples they can reproduce with the output ranging from 8 to 24 units. A series of routers are connected to act in unison so that multiple blocks of woods can be cut all at once and uniformly. The wood pattern that Martin carved was used as a master template and guide to be followed by the interconnected routers with each station creating one copy. Two patterns were made one for the center cabinet feet and a second right angle design for the corner legs.

Hedgerow Tree Round Cabinet Pull

The choice of hardware was key to the overall kitchen design and the tree motif is what ties the cabinets to the pulls and knobs.

The Hedgerow cabinet pull collection has a large left and right large facing tree that worked well for upper cabinets and for the glass door to the butler’s pantry. For the lower drawers the Hedgerow branch pull worked well and the small round cabinet knob was useful for the  bi-folding  cabinet doors as well as the smaller upper doors. 

As the original red oak floor was  in excellent condition we chose the same species for the cabinetry and finished the hardware with a simple oil rubbed finish.