“I couldn’t resist doing something special with the leftovers,” said Redant, who owns and operates Mechelen, Belgium-based Atelier Passe Partout.
Because the leftover wood from different projects was in small quantities, he knew his creations would have to be small. He settled on a whisky cabinet and humidor because he was about to participate in a luxury gallery at a yachting festival in Cannes, France.
“Since the visitors of this festival often are rich boat owners, I wanted to make objects that could fit with their yachts, something they could show off with,” Redant explained in an email. “I thought about the lifestyle of these people and could imagine them with a glass of whisky and a cigar in their deck chair.”
For the whisky cabinet, he decided to create a tartan pattern. “As the Scottish whisky is the most famous in Europe, the idea of using a tartan as a starting point came right away,” he said. The contrasting colors forming the pattern include mahogany, rosewood, teak, walnut, ebony, oak, satin wood, wenge and imbuya. The whisky glass shape on the lid is crafted with bird’s-eye maple.
The humidor was created using teak from a recent flooring project. “As I do not (yet) smoke cigars myself, I had to learn a lot about the fascinating world of cigars, like the importance of the humidity and the existence of humidifiers and controllers,” he said.
Redant used Spanish cedar wood on the inside of the humidor because it absorbs and maintains the humidity “and the smell of Spanish cedar wood is compatible with the smell of cigars.” For the humidor lid, Redant used imbuya, ebony, boxwood and mother of pearl. On the front of the humidor is mahogany, rosewood, flamed maple and flamed ash. The handle is made of snakewood.
The humidor took about two weeks to complete and the whisky cabinet three weeks (the doors with the intricate tartan marquetry taking up about half the time). When they were assembled, Redant coated them with linseed oil.
With the projects completed, Redant’s adoration of the material remains as apparent as his skill in working with it.
“The wood needed to be seen,” said Redant. “Its beauty deserved to be in the spotlights.”
To see other cool things other wood flooring pros have made with leftover wood flooring, go here.
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