AKAR DE NISSIM’s iris Table
The Iris table by Singapore-based home interiors brand Akar De Nissim features marquetry with a difference: it is fashioned not in wood, but in black straw. The techniques for both are similar, but for straw marquetry, wheat or oat straw is split and soaked in water to obtain the variations of colour seen in wood marquetry.
The technique has a fascinating history. It is believed to have been initiated in the East, with pieces exported to England in the 17th century. Nuns in France and Switzerland practiced straw marquetry, and the most famous work is said to have been done by prisoners of the Napoleonic wars while they were incarcerated in England.
Some 200 years later, Akar De Nissim is giving the craft a contemporary look. The company’s chosen artisan is the last French master craftsman in lacquer work – the student of the master who was himself the student of Jean Dunand, reputedly the greatest lacquer artist of the Art Deco period.
Iris table in black straw marquetry
Dimensions:109cm (diameter) x 35cm (height)
