Master Craftsman
Beautiful and highly ornamented Liège-style furniture is still being carved
today, thanks to the specialist skills of master Woodcarver Patrick Damiaens.
by Denzil Walton
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| Patrick Damiaens Ornamental woodcarver |
In the 17th
century the Belgian town of Liège became highly prosperous due to its coal
mining, metal processing and glass refining industries. It evolved into a
fashionable residence for princes, aristocracy and wealthy merchants who had
money to spend on lavish, expensive carved furniture.
The best
craftsmen from the surrounding region were invited to work in Liège. The city
soon became famous for its Liège-style furniture. It is characterized by
beautifully and delicately carved ornaments, usually with a thickness of only
5 mm. 400 years on, Liège-style furniture is still being created and carved to
the highest levels of quality.
From his
workshop in Maaseik, Belgium, Patrick Damiaens is a reassuring reminder that
even in these days of mass-manufactured furniture, there is still a demand for
the traditional skills of a master artisan.
Damiaens (46) is
the only full-time ornamental wood carver in Flanders – the Dutch-speaking half
of Belgium – a unique position of which he is immensely proud. “There are a few
part-timers and hobbyists in Flanders, but no-one who earns his living doing
what I do,” he says.
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| Carved panelling |
What
he does is certainly impressive. He works in close cooperation with four
colleagues: a staircase-maker, two cabinet-makers and a furniture
restorer.
Between them
they turn planks of rough French oak into the most stunningly attractive
cupboards, chests of drawers, wardrobes, door frames, staircases, stereo
cabinets and decorative panels. “In fact, if you have the budget, we could make
and decorate virtually any item of furniture,” Damiaens exclaims
enthusiastically.
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| Liege style furniture |
To make an item of
Liège-style furniture is a highly complex process. The preparatory technical
drawings can take a full month, as every item of furniture decorated by
Damiaens is unique and requires a totally new set of drawings.
His first
task is to make a rough sketch of the pattern, which might be based on an
original item of furniture or created uniquely by Damiaens himself and drawn in
the Liège-style.
This is then
presented to the customer, and after any necessary amendments are made, the
final technical drawing is redrawn on tracing paper and pinned to the selected
panel of wood. The design is then transferred onto the wood, which in most
cases is French oak.
The next stage is the only
time that Damiaens uses a machine (apart from one to sharpen his tools). He
skilfully manipulates an electric milling machine to remove the bulk of the
wood surrounding the design, after which the actual hand carving can begin.
Damiaens
first uses a home-made scraper to remove the rough edges and excess wood missed
by the milling machine, before bringing his vast collection of Swiss-made
razor-sharp wood carving chisels into action. Once the carving is completed,
the panel is returned to the cabinet-maker who treats it and incorporates it
into the intended item of furniture.
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| Grinling Gibbons Style of Carving |
One
reason why Damiaens likes his job is the variety of projects he is asked to
undertake. As well as the larger items of furniture which take a year to
complete, he carves and decorates a range of smaller items. At the end of a
long working day he tries to find time to work on projects for his own house.
He is currently building and decorating new kitchen cabinets.
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| Grinling Gibbons High-relief carving |
As to the future, Damiaens
likes to set himself new carving challenges, his latest being to work in the
style of Grinling Gibbons, one of his heroes. “Working mostly in lime wood,
Gibbons is particularly well-known for his exquisite cascades of flowers, fruit
and leaves, which were applied to paneling, furniture, walls and even
chimneys,” explains Damiaens. “So detailed were his carvings that in certain
light they look natural and lifelike, and have been likened to lacework. I
think he is the finest wood carver of all time.”
By Denzil Walton
