Fine Fettling

Art Moderne

This starts the next section of the catalogue Which is labeled Art Moderne. The wood inlay bands in this section are much more distinctive, and to me interesting, and I would love to see these used on some pieces of furniture. The section page is nice in itself and uses a great Art Deco [...]

The numerous bands on Pages 8 and 9 are mostly of the feather design some simple and others much more complex with many elements. Almost all have the internal elements cut at 45 degrees and are put together as a series of parallelograms. There is a very nice range of different woods and colours used [...]

I hope you find these additions to the series on inlay banding by Buffard Frères more and more interesting. Every time I look at them I find bands that are wonderful for their proportions. Most of these bands again involve rectilinear cuts but generate a large number of different patterns that only scratch the [...]

This group of mosaic banding used for furniture inlays is more varied in both the use of wood species and in the patterns generated. The basic unit of construction of the bands on Page 4 is the parallelogram which is used in a simple repeating internal unit bounded top and bottom by thin bands of [...]

The first three pages of wood banding by Buffard Frères in the catalogue contain fairly simple bands that were offered in a number of widths. The more interesting bands in this series have interesting wood used for the ground “colour”. I am guessing from the colour lithographs but on Plate 1 the different size bands [...]

The 1926 Buffard Frères banding catalogue was likely distributed widely throughout Europe to production furniture shops and guilds. The extent of the wood banding offered was prodigious in both diversity and quantity. To give you an idea of the level of production of inlay banding the prices quoted in the catalogue are for quantities of [...]

Characteristics of fine woodworking generally include fine details and first class finishing in the crafting of heirloom furniture. The use of inlays of contrasting wood or other materials in mosaics or banding has been around for centuries. and has great appeal

Example from Buffard Freres 1926

I became interested in the brothers Buffard and their amazing [...]