White Oak Arkitecture designs and produce exclusive high-end furniture, mainly using the highest quality of North American white oak (Quercus alba) and ash (Fraxinus excelsior). Inspired by medieval archetypes, mixed with golden proportion and arboreal geometries, our furniture aim to reproduce sacred harmonies, rooted in the Keltic, Norse, and Italian Middle Ages. Our furniture do not use any metal screw or nail, or industrial preservatives, just wooden joints and natural oils.
Table Norway originates from the reinterpretation of the Norse grindverk.
Table Norway is very minimalist, but based on a complex sequential dry-joint system, self-standing, without any support, neither of metal plates nor of nails or screws. Made of prime quality of American hardwoods, without any paint, just natural oil, this table is the essence of our research on medieval archetypes and joint systems. The structural system is inspired to a medieval sequential overlapping and hooking joint system, reinterpreting the Norwegian medieval system named "grindverk". Just nine pieces in massive timber build the table in sequence (4 posts > 4 beams > top), and in reverse sequence to dismantle it. The table can be customized in size and materials, up to a size of 400 x 400 cm. The top can be customized, in wood, crystal, with tarsia and ceramic tiles.
the table is produced by order at the basic cost of
2400 €/sqm
The Humble Luxury of Wood
In Memory of Paolo Portoghesi (1931-2023)
In December 2011, my first meeting with Paolo Portoghesi happened entirely by chance. We were on the same flight back to Italy, I flying from New York, and he and his wife, Giovanna, from Frankfurt. We were seated in the same row, with Paolo by the window, Giovanna in the middle, and me on the aisle. Recognizing Paolo, I introduced myself, honored to be in their company and to meet in person one of the European masters of organic architecture. We spoke about wooden architecture, trees, medieval spirituality, and archetypes. Paolo recalled my name, which had featured six years earlier in an interview in his magazine Abitare La Terra, an article about me as a theorist of tree-centric architecture.Hours passed like minutes, and we only stopped talking when landed in Rome.
We met again months later at their home in Calcata. He wanted to see the prototype of the joint system that I used for the Norway Table. We talked all day, and before I left, Paolo said, "It is strange, Thomas, that at my old age, after so many projects, books, and conferences, I still have regrets... and one of them now, talking to you, is that I underestimated the potential of wood, having used it so rarely compared to the illusions of concrete and steel. Architecture needs more wood, more humble architects. We are so focused on a noisy ego, while architecture should be silent beauty." It was a lesson from a master. While he thanked me for reminding him of the value of wood, I received from him a great lesson in humility.
