Ruhlmann Desk

brooklynia373 · 23 Dec 2015, 14:34

Here's a desk I've been working on. Ruhlmann was a designer around the turn of the century. He exclusively worked for the extremely rich and used the finest materials and craftsman. I tried to model this as I thought it would be built with joinery and all. (I'll post an exploded view later.) Not something that could ever live in my house, but fun to figure out.

davidheim1 · 23 Dec 2015, 15:22

Excellent work. Ruhlmann's designs are maddeningly complex, but you've certainly captured him with the model.
Fine Woodworking magazine had an article years ago about a couple of furniture restorers who specialized in repairing Ruhlmann pieces. As I recall, the article made it clear that Ruhlmann was just a designer and had a shop of craftsmen to execute his designs. I think the article also said that his pieces were all about surface: Under the veneer were rough pieces of wood often glued and screwed together.

Great model and lovely rendering. Keep up the good work.

brooklynia373 · 23 Dec 2015, 15:59

@davidheim1 said:

I think the article also said that his pieces were all about surface: Under the veneer were rough pieces of wood often glued and screwed together.

That's interesting cause after looking closely at this thing for a while, you can tell that the carcass would have to be assembled somewhat rough with staves, then finished by hand to the profile, then veneered after assembly. I would love to see one of these up close, check out the interior and all.

Thanks for the info!

pbacot · 23 Dec 2015, 19:00

Beautiful job. Such a modern piece, I would have thought at least 1920's?

brooklynia373 · 23 Dec 2015, 19:27

Thanks and you're right! The piece I modeled this after is at the MET here in ny. It's dated 1918-1919.