Marbled beech with an exciting history

The processing of Vintage Beech requires special craftsmanship, as the veneer is comparably brittle and fragile – and must be handled with particular care. For the sideboard, the furniture manufacturer BLEIER LEBENSRÄUME has used veneers with a particularly strong grain. The roundwood for this unique veneer comes from an old beech tree from Oberwolfach in the Black Forest.

For the shoe cupboard, the fine veneer has been skilfully laid around the entire cupboard so that even the corners create a tension through the continuous veneer pattern. The technical handles made of round polished stainless steel and the natural veneer reinforce each other's expressiveness. As a unique feature, the veneer pattern continues in the lower shell handles. Behind the three drawers visible from the outside, there are two further internal drawers – plenty of space for the whole family's shoes.

Aged beech – also known as vintage beech – is beech wood with a beautiful grain interspersed with black, highly decorative lines. These zonal lines are formed by various species of fungi that usually grow on dead and fallen trees and subsequently colonise the wood. The unique black markings in the wood delineate the territory of the respective fungus. The veneers of this type of wood are extremely rare, as the fungal colonisation often leads to the decay of the trees.

The longer the fungi remain in the wood, the more beautiful is the later marbling. At the same time, however, the quality of the wood deteriorates over time and becomes too soft for processing. With its 60 years of experience, the Karlsruhe veneer specialist Schorn & Groh knows how to determine the timing for veneer production and offers its customers a great selection of vintage beech veneers with varying degrees of marbling.