Visual Bornholm
Published by Visual Media ApS
Designed by Miru Studio
The grain of the wood undulates across the surface of the coffee table. The grain is darker and thicker than typically seen in wooden furniture – because the coffee table is made of Bornholm wood, and there’s something very special about that. The table’s creator, Jens Erlandsen, loves to elaborate on this in his cabinetmaking workshop in Hasle. This modest, subdued workshop is ideal for enabling the craft of cabinetmaking to come into its own, and visitors can see every part of the process from the log to the finished piece of furniture. The pervasive fragrance of sawdust in the workshop inevitably evokes memories, as a symphony of machinery and tools hums in the background.
The furniture at Erlandsen Fine Furniture Studio is more than just processed wood: it must serve a purpose. To the 68-year-old master cabinetmaker, furniture design is a matter of creating furniture that can be adapted to the diversity of spaces and the people who inhabit them. This is why he makes furniture that can be adjusted to suit individual customer needs.
The trees were one of the reasons why Jens Erlandsen settled on Bornholm in 2019 with a vision of merging Nordic design traditions with flexible functionality and sustainability, while staying true to these local roots. It took four years of preparation before he finally opened his cabinetmaker’s workshop to the wider world, because he had to fine-tune a unique wood-drying method that would save both time and carbon emissions. Uniquely in Denmark’s cabinetmaking sector, Jens Erlandsen dries wood in a vacuum oven imported from Italy. Normally, the drying process can take up to several years.
You can experience the results of this thorough process at leisure in the cabinetmaking workshop’s showroom, where you are encouraged to touch the products. We warmly recommend dropping by Erlandsen Fine Furniture Studio in Hasle to enjoy the fragrance of freshly-sawn wood, see the display of furniture and feel the pieces of furniture with their unique Bornholm style.
Erlandsen Fine Furniture Studio takes pride in being as eco-friendly as possible. This is one reason why Jens Erlandsen has spent months experimenting with how to use his vacuum oven to avoid importing wood from distant climes.
Respect for our natural environment and the climate are part of the master cabinetmaker’s philosophy. Surplus wood is recycled into items such as garden furniture and cutting boards; electricity is the only source of energy used in the production process; and the materials selected have best-in-class environmental certification.
Above all, the furniture is designed and built to last. Because fine craftsmanship creates sturdy furniture that lasts for generations.
Nor will you ever detect even a hint of mass-production techniques in the workshop’s processes. Each tree is sawn according to a precise plan for the piece of furniture that the tree is destined to become. This is done to reduce waste, but also because Jens Erlandsen wants the tree’s natural qualities to determine the type of furniture it is best suited for. This respect for the tree’s personality is reflected in the showroom display. The closer you get to the pieces of furniture, the more their distinctive features come to the fore in an interaction of nuances, shapes and harmony of the wood grain.
Tree trunks welcome visitors outside Erlandsen Fine Furniture Studio – primarily oak and ash, but also cherry and walnut. The wood comes from Snogebæk, Vestermarie, Allinge and other areas of the island. Each tree grows differently and lives its own life. Some grew along a field, others in a forest. Accordingly, growth rings and qualities are never the same. Bornholm trees embody a similar quality, too. Like the island’s rugged inhabitants of the past, the hardiness of the trees has been shaped by the island’s location in the Baltic Sea, which can be just as brutal as it is gentle. This gives the trees exceptional growing conditions with salty air and fierce winds. These conditions are embodied in the distinctive wood grain of the trees and the beautiful interplay of colours that inspire Jens Erlandsen’s efforts in his workshop as he breathes new life into the wood to create furniture.
