Ronnie Rozenga, Papiliones (FURNITURE 2025)

Photos:

Otto Kalkhoven

Country

Netherlands

Papiliones is an ode to the butterfly. These beautiful insects with their vibrant colors have captured the imagination for many centuries. They symbolize resurrection and eternal life, love and happiness, but above all, the butterfly is loved for its beautiful colours and graceful flight. The marquetry invites you to immerse yourself in the scene. The images, which continue from panel to panel, form an atmospheric panorama with thirteen butterfy species, leaves, branches and flowers. As you delve into the marquetry, you'll constantly discover new details. The interplay of light and dark, the colours and the shadow effects add dephth and life to the scene. The raised top, floating on eight brass bushings, creates a nice flow of light over the marquetry and gives refinement to the design. The architectual shapes of the arches and the slenderness of the construction accentuate this effect. Satin glass drawer covers prevent the view from being distracted by the contents of the three drawers. The use of different wood types creates a subtle contrast. The inlaid bandings accentuate the lines and visually divide the heights, widths and lenghts. The table is primarily made of Wenge and Cherry, two wood species that match perfectly. Wenge lines are incorporated in the drawer case, Maple is used to add contrasting elements. All the veneers for the marquetry are shop sawn out of solid woods at a thickness of 3 mm, they all have their natural color. All the joints between the legs, the arches and the aprons are made with mortise and tenon joints. The drawer fronts are connected to the sides with hand cut half blind dovetail joints. The arches are made of steam bend and laminated strips of Cherry. The marquetry is completely hand made using a double bevel technique, sand shading has been applied to provide the desired depht effect. A varnish is used to finish the table, which gives it a beautiful rich natural color. It makes the marquetry scenes really come to life. It is applied on a traditional way using brushes, with the techniques I learned from my father.

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