Synopsis: It’s not every day a working woodworker calls his benefactor an imbecile. Yet George Frank did, in this tale he shares from 1928, when he experimented with blowtorching a full set of custom-made bedroom furniture in front of a client. Things did not go as hoped. Find out what the anticipated goal was and if they achieved it — and at whose expense.
When Maurice Lafaille invited me to lunch, I knew that he wanted something. When he took me to one of the finest restaurants in Paris I knew that he had something big on his mind. And it was.
In 1928 Lafaille was a young, handsome, talented and poor interior decorator, dedicated to beauty and innovation. When the main dish was served, he produced a small package, about 6 inches square. At his request I opened it and unveiled a finely detailed statuette of Buddha. He asked me what I thought of it, and I answered that it seemed to be exquisitely carved, a work of art without any doubt, but that I was far from being a competent judge of its value. “George, take a closer look at the hair,” he said, and I did. The hair was made of fine lines, each about the thickness of a human hair, but the color of the lines alternated, light and dark, light and dark. Lafaille than produced a powerful magnifying glass. I saw that the dark lines were produced by fire, or burning, and the light ones were the natural color of the wood. How the wood was scorched in such narrow bands is still a mystery to me.
“And what do you think of it now?” inquired Lafaille. “Simple,” I replied. “If I did not have this thing in my hand, I would say that such a job is impossible.” Lafaille then dropped the bombshell: “George, I am designing a bedroom suite for the Baron Rotschild, and this is the finish you are going to do for me.”
I called him an idiot, a dreamer, an imbecile, and told him that even if I could do the finish, it would take me at least 2,000 years. “George, you do it,” said Lafaille. He paid for lunch and we zoomed back to my shop.
From Fine Woodworking #18
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Fine Woodworking Recommended Products
Bumblechutes Bee’Nooba Wax
Waterlox Original
Foam Brushes
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