Tuesday, 13 October 2009

Barlas Baylar on Eco-Friendly Furniture Design

By Bobby S. Barnes

One may see there the evolution of chandeliers, tables, bed frames and their headboards. Metal, wood, glass, and stone have been reinterpreted to furnish civilization. Chain chandeliers with gently sinuous waves of metallic accents trace the descent of light along glass strands dripping fringe-like. The melancholic majesty of dying trees is forever captured by solid slabs serving as seats. Then there are the accessories that seem both stone and wood all at once - petrified wood, naturally. Yet these floor samples only hint at the hustle of his humming New York City workshop.

Twenty-four craftsmen help realize the Barlas Baylar ideal into the utilitarian artwork that grace celebrity apartments and upscale boutiques alike. Each piece is unique, with no two exactly alike. With a background in production design and a family tradition as machinery manufacturers, he founded Hudson Furniture to make use of all-natural antiquated materials modernized with industrial detail to turn interiors into exteriors by using organic structures that evoke the universe without. Surfaces are not simply sanded down, but hand-burnished using broken glass to reveal nature's own eternal handiwork underneath.

Concern for nature informs his work, and not just admiration of her. Devoted to the conservation of nature, he uses only sustainable materials for consoles, panels, sofas, mirrors, and everything else ever made by the company. Dead or dying lumber is used exclusively, particularly that of salvaged arbor wind or storm-damaged. Preferred species include Claro Walnut, Black Walnut, Myrtle, Jasmine, Acacia, Satinwood, and Ebonized Pine, typically removed by owners such as farmers to prevent damage to houses or other trees.

Not a thing goes to waste. Leftover scraps and cuttings of every irregularity are integrated into other works, and on account the connections developed by family ties and personal experience in various industries his company is able to ensure the eco-friendly origins of its materials, even to the point of obtaining the approval of embassies and consulates in the case of necessary imports.

Indeed, Hudson Furniture is proud to be New York's sole repository for legally harvested petrified wood. Thus Baylar's geometric forms, traditional joinery techniques, and hand-rubbed oil finishes can continue to return to the nature from which it emerges to grace civilization.

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