Florian Saul, Furniture Design and Development

I’ve been paying particular attention to the categories on the website, putting each article under a specific title, such as ceramics, photography, architecture, and others of a similar pattern. One of my favourite areas at the moment has to be the furniture section, I’m still working on the posts so they list nicely and finding any errant uncategorised articles, but I feel like any budding furniture designer would do well to come across our website. It’s certainly not hard to get inspired, that’s for sure!

As you may have read previously, I’ve just started a furniture making course myself, currently undertaking a project which will see me designing and producing a simple stool. I have no previous woodworking experience so it should be interesting to see what comes of the process and how it influences me as a creative. So to compliment I’ve been compiling a sketch book full of inspiration. When I bumped in to German designer Florian Saul it made filling the sketchbook pages quite easy, his simplistic furniture was right up my street. Not only that, but I liked how he mixed the materials, for example using a cork seat, which gives the stool an interesting texture and soft appearance, alongside natural looking wood for the legs. The joins situated at the top of the legs look interesting as well and will be something that I’ll have to account for in the near future.

Florian Saul is both a trained carpenter and designer, so his passions have merged to create the fantastic portfolio of furniture that you see on his website. Originally Florian decided to investigate the traditional technique of bent wood, which is actually quite rare to see for an independent maker as it can be a tedious process with a lot of experimentation needed. He ended up constructing his own steam chamber in his workshop, feeding hot moist air through his mother’s canning pot, until he could produce even strong oak slats bent to his will and acheive the desired radius. To finish he had created the award-winning solid oak table named Vita and the graceful Servus coat rack, and with this mentality we’re sure to see plenty more interesting design methods in the future. I’m really lucky to highlight such talented individuals who’re pushing themselves in their desired craft, enjoy these photos below and head over to Florian Saul’s website to see more like this.

floriansaul.com

BECOME A PART OF OUR DESIGN JOURNEY

Special discounts on OEN Shops curated collection

• Exclusive behind-the-scenes content
• Early access to content from our OEN publication
• Deep dive into design concepts
• Curated guides to the worlds top art and design cities