The Journey of an English Oak
As well as a 30-year history of creativity and craftsmanship, Silverlining is known for sourcing materials with an interesting provenance, including a remarkable English brown burr oak tree. It was planted in 1773 to celebrate the birth of George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle, whose descendants still live at Castle Howard. Set within 1,000 acres of breathtaking landscape in North Yorkshire, England, this magnificent 18th century residence has featured in many film and television productions, including Brideshead Revisited.
Brought down during England’s Great Storm on the night of 15th October 1987, the 214-year-old tree remained where it fell for over 25 years and became colonised by edible parasitic beefsteak’ fungi. So called because it resembles beefsteak when cut, this fungus stained the natural pale, honey-coloured wood of the fallen tree a darker brown, creating a very desirable type of wood known as brown or tiger oak.
Fortuitously, the ancient oak also had numerous rounded outgrowths called burrs, which are usually formed when a tree undergoes some form of stress (such as an injury or infestation). As the wood within a burr grows in a deformed manner, it is highly figured and therefore greatly prized for its beauty and rarity.
Having sourced such a remarkable tree, Silverlining’s artisans were determined to do it justice. And when clients contacted Silverlining almost five years later, in 2015, their wish came true. Inspired by the clients’ love of nature, the sea and the sky, and in collaboration with superyacht designer Greg C Marshall, the design for a stunning dining table was born.
The spectacular table pedestal would be made from a huge, heavily burred section taken from the base of the great oak, mounted on top of a circular polished stainless steel plinth. To ensure the extraordinary natural beauty of the contorted brown burr oak was revealed in all its glory, the design team came up with the idea of creating a central bowl section to sit within the butt section, beneath a see-through, five-piece glass top.
Not surprisingly, the large six-foot circular aquamarine cast glass top and its four tempered support rings had to be specially commissioned from a glass studio in Bohemia, in the Czech Republic.
Although the team were keen to use the tree in as natural a state as possible, at a diameter of about four feet, the entire butt was just too heavy for lifting onto the clients’ yacht! So before Silverlining’s craftsmen Paul Young and Colin Davies could set about creating the table, the large butt section had to be cut up into five ‘workable’ wedges. As is the case for many of Silverlining’s pieces, final assembly of the table would have to be done in situ – on the yacht in New Zealand.
Paul began by levelling off the five wedges to the same height, ready for subsequent reassembly into a single piece, which would simulate the original uncut tree and also support the central burr oak bowl. He then took on the task of inserting, and connecting, 160 micro LED lights into the wedges – no mean feat, which required the use of a two-foot long drill to penetrate the rock-hard wood.
Next it was Colin’s turn to step up to the lathe and skillfully hand turn the massive centre bowl – just imagine trying to shape a 51 kg (112 lb) lump of wood as it flies round at 80 revolutions per minute!
The finished table is a pièce de résistance, both by day and by night, ensuring that this truly magnificent 242-year-old oak will be admired for many years to come. The oak butt and bowl – with their stunning burr texture and rich brown colours – represent nature; the greenish-blue cast glass top symbolises the swirling waters of the sea; and the embedded, red, green, blue and white coloured micro LED lights twinkle brightly from within the shadows of the contorted tree butt like stars in the night sky.
It is often said that great oaks from little acorns grow but who would have thought that a humble acorn planted within the grounds of one of Britain’s finest stately homes during the 18th century would eventually become the spectacular heart of a unique 21st century table aboard a yacht on the other side of the world in New Zealand – what a journey!
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