A Thread for Fine Design

stefanq

[flash=500,405:1aj5m34o]http://www.youtube.com/v/LgsDWb0orSQ[/flash:1aj5m34o]

Sören Berger, who lives in New Zealand, has been a woodturning artist for 33 years.

He is very well known throughout the world as a teacher, demonstrator and exhibitor, with his art pieces featured in many journals, publications and books.

Each year Sören is invited to America to demonstrate woodturning at big national symposiums, top art and craft schools and woodturning clubs.

In 33 years of full time studio woodturning, traveling and teaching Sören has come to see that woodturners are experiencing a rediscovery of a very ancient art.

The experience that Sören Berger has gained in his travels throughout the USA, Sweden and NZ over the last 17 years has given him a clearer understanding of many of the common problems people encounter while learning to turn.

Modern woodturning has some new materials, tools and technologies which make the processes quicker and more pleasant.

Sören’s interest over the last 4 years has been focused on developing tools that enables everybody to create beautiful objects with ease of use.

This dedicated development has resulted in a range of innovative and outstanding products enjoyed by woodturners worldwide.

dale

I can see Sören Berger is quite an innovator after doing a little follow up on him. I had not heard of him, and appreciate the post.
It is really nice to see a person with his talent spending his time teaching.
I have to say I am surprised that the shade in the video is stable enough not to split with the heat of the light, but that is why he is the teacher.

david_h

Those are beautiful lamp shades, but it seemed a of wood ended up on the shop floor!

I wonder if he's ever cut section out of a giant redwood and hollowed himself out a garage for his car!

pbacot

@unknownuser said:

Those are beautiful lamp shades, but it seemed a of wood ended up on the shop floor!

I wonder if he's ever cut section out of a giant redwood and hollowed himself out a garage for his car!

Well I imagine that piece was firewood otherwise, probably grown in a plantation as they do for much lumber down there (if it's pine especially).

But just last night I was barbecuing with cedar wraps. They are cedar sheets like paper. I was holding it up to the light and imagining a lamp shade (this one square) with cedar panes. But I was also noting how the sheets looked like prime lumber, in that case, to be cooked with my salmon--another resource I should probably leave for posterity

and now this today. Interesting.

EscapeArtist

Too true. But then some European countries have much stricter rules about tree harvesting and forest management. Usually replacements are planted, unlike here.

brookefox

Apologies to Dale: A thread for fine design and criticism. I dunno, like some may have thought, using a giant round to extract a beautiful veneer seems very wasteful. He's a turner, so he turns. A chemist might use plastic. I'd prefer a shade of wood be made more conservatively, or if not more 'appropriately', not at all. A shade made of veneer would have a seam and be weaker, until plasticized, but 30 could be made rather than one, and perhaps something nice could be made of the seam (e.g., fingers).

veneer lamp shade-_bamboo_veneer.jpg

veneer rolls.jpg

d12dozr

Re the lampshade, here's what the video description says:

@unknownuser said:

!!! Please before you write a negative comment about the waste of wood, please realize , this is fast growing pine, it had already been cut down to be used as firewood, the centre of the log is sap wood and is very poor quality, and all the wood chips are reused in another way, for heating, or in the garden. We appreciate your care for nature, and assure you that we too have the same regard for what our planet gives to us.

I think its a great use for what would otherwise just be firewood.

brookefox

I watched the video in place and didn't post anywhere but here. (I also have in place a no negative comments about my negative comments request, also posted elsewhere.) Regardless of what claims the author of the disclaimer may have made, my eyes show me otherwise. The center of the log does not look to be of very poor quality; making compost or heating chips in this fashion is, I think, energy wasteful. If the intended use as firewood was defeated by this use of this piece, some other round would be used as firewood? The disclaimer seems like rationalization to me. In my view the end result would be better and more elegantly achieved by other means.

Roger

Interesting arguments. In fact veneer would be stronger and look a hell of a lot better. With the grain of veneer bending around the lamp the grain resists deformation by bending around the cylinder of the shade. For this reason the veneer is thinner. The turned piece has vertical grain and will easily separate along the grain at the slightest pressure and must therefore be thicker. Looking at the light transmitted through the wood, the veneer is produces a delicate and even look. The turned piece is thicker as it has to be and you can see irregularities in the form of tool marks. My preference is for the veneer.

dale

This may be a case of a master turner strutting his stuff, and from what I have read about Sören Berger after stefanq's post he does a lot of demonstration work to exemplify his craft.
Here is a quote from the Mint Museum of Craft and Design website:

"Turned-wood objects embody a provocative combination of the natural and the manmade. The dialogue between an artist and the wood on the lathe is a balancing act between precise control and the forms of chance, a collaboration of hand, machine, mind and matter. The allure of a turned-wood piece resonates from the interaction of the material's inherent beauty and the turner's mastery of technique, concept and form".
Those among us who have turned wood would probably agree it is a specialized part of woodworking that requires years to master, and what he does in this video is ultra difficult.

As for the larger issue of blatant waste. I don't think it can ever hurt to have this pointed out.
My last residence on Gabriola Island had rainwater collection as its only water source.
I can tell you how tuned in you get to how people waste water, even if it is something a simple as running the tap constantly as you brush your teeth.
It makes me wonder how much energy I have caused to be wasted in the posting, storing, distribution and viewing of this Thread.
I guess I better make em count.
So while we are on the subject
Wild Lilac burl turnings
Hap Sakwa Screen shot 2012-06-07 at 6.06.46 AM.png