Materials & Finishes
Our finishes have been developed over decades of experimentation, drawing on old recipes from antique restorers or uniquely developed in our factory. We apply these finishes to carefully-sourced materials to create our distinctive furniture.
Oak
We source our solid oak from Burgundy in France. The high tannins in the oak are a vital part of winemaking in this region.
We use these naturally-occurring chemicals to create beautiful finish effects on our designs. By reacting the tannic acid we can make a variety of different finish colours.
Seared
Fumed
Dark Fumed
Ebonised
Preserving the natural pale colour of European oak is an art. Most finishes tend to darken or bring out the warmer orange tones in oak. The more protection that is added, the more the colour changes.
We use specialist oils sourced directly from the manufacturers in Europe. Small amounts of pigment are added to maintain the light, uncoated appearance, while giving the same level of protection.
Raw
White Raw
We’ve developed a selection of more specialist finishes. Here we use the naturally occurring tannins combined with pigments to create a further range of colours.
Burnt
Arctic
Snow Grey
Ash Grey
Solid Hickory
Hickory is one of the toughest timbers available. That’s why we use it for our chair models and designs with fine support structures. We’ve even developed finishes that match our reactive stain finishes on the oak.
Although some woods equal hickory in a single property, such as hardness or stiffness, not one commercially available wood can match it in the combination of hardness, bending strength, stiffness, and shock resistance.
For this reason it has a long history of being used for objects that require strength such as tool handles, ladder rungs and wagon wheels and high-quality chair making.
Solid Birch
Birch is a hardwood native to North America as well as Europe. It has long been used for flooring, chairs, tables and cabinets. We use it for its strength in making drawer boxes and its pale colour that contrasts beautifully with our oak finishes.
Engineered Wood
As well as standard veneer, Square Roots has developed the technology to slice its stocks of solid oak to accurate, thin slices using high precision, specialist band saws. This material can then be applied to birch plywood to produce an ‘engineered wood’ panel.
Our engineered wood has different properties to a veneered panel, most importantly the appearance of solid wood not veneer. It is the same technique used by flooring companies to make much hardwood flooring.
Cast Iron
We use recycled sources of iron for sand casting to create table legs and many other components in our production. This process allows for a variety of shapes and surface textures which can then be decorated with different surface finishes.
Using tradition oil gilding techniques we can apply bronze powders or metal leaf to create finishes in shades of gold, bronze, copper and silver
Oil Gilding
Drawing on our experience in antique restoration we incorporate a range of traditional gilding processes to decorate the surface of our cast iron. Using a traditional oil size and application of metal leaf or bronze powder we can create a finish of depth and character that far exceeds that of a painted or powder coated process.
Fabricated Steel
Both hot and cold rolled steel is fabricated from sheet, round, square and rectangular section to form delicate structures. Welded with precision and strength. Oxidised and clear coated.
Solid Brass
We create brass details by stamping, cutting with hot wire or lost wax casting. Inlaid as decorative detail or used as handles and hardware. The solid brass can be patinated to a light or dark finish.
