Blog

November 2019

A Love of Nature - Biophilic Design

A love of nature is ingrained in us, refined through experience, culture, and the product of human evolution. But how often do we find ourselves in a truly natural environment?

There is an undeniable desire to immerse ourselves in natural landscapes. Though often only in our subconscious it leads many on long walks and escapes to the countryside retreats. The biophilia hypothesis  suggests that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with with nature and other forms of life.

But what if you could recapture that connection in your own home using raw and organic materials. Our materials palette with barn wood at its core creates cabinetry and furniture that offer a connection to nature, and quality of material that cannot be found elsewhere. The texture and grain of weathered barn wood mimics the wild unlike any other type of wood. Moss, bark and other organic surfaces such as Organoids stunning scented sheet material pressed with lavender, meadow flower and coffee (to name but a few) round off our material palette.

The World Health Organisation expects stress related illness to be the largest contributor toward disease by 2020.  With diminished opportunity to connect with nature and universal technological acceptance (Smart Phones, Tablets etc) means we have less opportunity to recuperate our mental and physical energy. At Brandler London we strive to keep this core connection to nature in our products, helping improve the health and well being of our clients.

Biophilic design is a sustainable design strategy, seen as a necessary complement to green architecture, which decreases the environmental impact of the built world. Our products and philosophy are both geared towards minimising our contribution towards this negative impact, helping to relief pressure on nature and importantly ourselves.

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October 2017

A Discovery Through the Doors of Seville

Take a walk down the streets of Seville and you’ll be struck by buildings untouched for centuries as well as dozens of handmade timber doors. Each one uniquely crafted and waiting to tell a story. Many of these doors with geometric patterns, as an homage to the cities Arabic origins.  Beautifully eroding as a measure of time.

With no real pavements, the doors of Seville are very important to the people. They act as the only boundary between the street life and the private courtyards.

Architecture of Seville

The current architecture of Seville that you see stems from the African-Islamic population. A community that once inhabited the majority of the city before being conquered. Since then the designs have always had attributes to its Moorish origins. With a lot of buildings incorporating geometry and craftsmanship into their style. The most notable example of this evolution is the Seville Cathedral, which was built on an ancient mosque site and converted the existing minaret to a bell tower.

A Measure of Wealth

The houses and courtyards would have once belonged to larger families. Their entrances would have been a depiction of the family’s wealth. The bigger and grander your door, the more affluent your family was considered to be. Residents would have also competed to own the most decorative and ornate doorknobs, often in brass

Being a resident in Seville, you would have been competing with neighbors to own the most decorative and ornate doorknobs. Often in brass and shaped into hands or animals.

timber doors raw wood Reclaimed wood Barn wood bespoke joinery kitchen wardrobes furniture tables commercial property development design cabinet maker joiner London uk united kingdom surrey Kingston aged wood weathered wood antique wood fitted furniture modern contemporary high-end high end luxury barn wood natural raw pine larch oak garden design bedroom design bathroom design wardrobe design beams cladding doors stairs understair storage reclaimed wood joinery woodworking carpentry
Ornate door knobs found on doors of Seville

Though the city has evolved through the times, we are grateful it has been able to preserve such rich character.

 

 

Bespoke Door for Siouxsie Dickens

At Brandler, we too see how a door can be more than just a door. It can become the threshold into someone’s personality. That is why we went through numerous discussion and drawings when constructing Siouxsie Dicken’s Door. Needless to say, we were very proud of the final design and Siouxsie was very happy with her new door.

Siouxsie’s bespoke timber door depicts art deco and gothic influences and was made to appear as two doors. However, they are attached to function as one huge door, imposing a sense of grandness to any guests. The door uses 150-year-old raw-wood and was painted in an off-black with gold accents. It effortlessly fits into the flat’s modern and contemporary styling.

timber doors raw wood Reclaimed wood Barn wood bespoke joinery kitchen wardrobes furniture tables commercial property development design cabinet maker joiner London uk united kingdom surrey Kingston aged wood weathered wood antique wood fitted furniture modern contemporary high-end high end luxury barn wood natural raw pine larch oak garden design bedroom design bathroom design wardrobe design beams cladding doors stairs understair storage reclaimed wood joinery woodworking carpentry
Siouxsie Dicken’s Bespoke Door

September 2017

Raw wood top tips - Featured on Houzz

Get the Raw and Rustic Look

This month we were pleased to hear that we had been featured on the interiors website, Houzz. The article was about achieving a raw and rustic look, so no surprise they wanted to use an image by raw wood specialists Brandler London image.

For the article, Houzz included our warehouse conversion based in Southwark. This project made use of existing raw wood joists and exposed brickwork, bringing new life but holding onto character.

Alongside us, the article spotlighted other designers that were able to combine the use of natural and industrial materials into their designs.

Raw wood rustic dining london
hackney downs rustic kitchen raw wood

 

Giving helpful tips to create cozy yet contemporary living spaces. Projects featured included impressive uses of incorporating raw wood and metals into spaces that had exposed brickwork or distressed plaster. As well as making the most of your scuffed floorboards.

The Design

We were able to keep to the Brandler style by placing raw aged pine alongside polished concrete worktops, creating a crisp and contemporary design. We were lucky enough to reuse the raw wood from the existing joist to create the cabinet doors. Pair this with the buildings exposed brickwork and our choice of a soft green for the walls, we were proud of how light and relaxing a living space we had achieved.

“…vintage bricks instantly add character to any space. In a kitchen they create warmth, and here work brilliantly alongside natural wooden units.”

Other features of the design included recessed handles with routed steel back-plates as well as retrofitted lighting by Buster + Punch and fully fitted kitchen appliances.

At Brandler, we pride ourselves on being makers of bespoke cabinetry, and our Southwark warehouse is another example of how good we are at working weathered barn wood into high-end contemporary designs.

Please take a look at some other kitchen designs we have work on here.

dessert road industrial kitchen houzz raw wood