This Cabinet is made from a red elm tree which once stood in Prospect Park, Brooklyn which is across the street from our home. It’s what you call a “Witness Tree”.
When friends over at RE-CO Bklyn were granted access to recycle the tree into lumber I knew I needed to have a piece of that history. This piece now sits in my house across from the the park in which it stood for over 200 years.
Watch a Video RE-CO BKYLN made about the tree.
Wood: Red Elm, Ash, Basswood
Finish: Oil, wax grain filled panels w/ shellac, and unfinished backboards.
From it’s humble marshy beginnings the tree has seen the landing of colonists, the acquisition of NYC from native tribes, two major wars, the invention of electricity from the streetlights, the concrete poured around it, the automobile humming around it, the planes thats soar above it, and to the skyline we now call New York City.
The edge profile on the top and bottom of the case were made by hand with a spokeshave and a pencil line.
The divider wood and back slats were chosen to lighten up the rich darker color of the elm.
The ash dividers are panels made from rift and quatersawn ash to reduce movement.
It’s mounted on a hidden french cleat behind shiplapped basswood backboards.
The Cabinet was built with to showcase the wood. The elm has a grain pattern like none I have ever seen before. I thought that because of it’s intensity it needed a more simple form.