London Design Festival 2014: designer Sebastian Cox has unveiled his latest collection of furniture made from hazel wood he collects in the British countryside (+ slideshow).
Cox's Underwood collection is made from British ash and coppiced hazel wood – young tree stems that are cut down as part of a traditional method of woodland management that are usually considered a waste material.
The coppiced hazel is sourced from land owned by the designer in Kent, south England.
"I am a self confessed wood geek and I adore all species but hazel is my secret favourite," said Cox. "Hazel is at the heart of this collection. It's in the round. It's strong and lightweight."
Eight core pieces make up the collection. The Hewn Bench features a rectangular flat top made from ash, with four coppiced hazel legs that finish in a point and retain the majority of their bark to contrast with the smooth finished surface of the seat. A matching stool replicates the design with a smaller square top.
The Hewn Tea Table follows a similar principle, with roughly finished legs that cross over on a pivot in the middle so they can be folded flat. A round piece of dowel holds the legs together and a string across the top of each pair prevents them from unfolding too far. The two sets of legs are connected using bars of solid stripped ash. When unfolded, the structure supports a removable butler's tray-style top with collapsible handles.
Three pieces of roughly finished coppiced wood create the legs for the Hewn Trestle, connected by a thick plank of wood shaped like a squashed hexagon.
The Mopstick Ladder is designed for hanging towels and fabrics, and uses raw coppiced wood instead of rungs. Strips of smooth ash run up each side, with slanted sections cut away from one side towards the top to allow the structure to lean securely against a wall.
Slotted Shelves are made from solid beams of wood that have been partially sanded to reveal the grain of the material and partly left raw with strips of bark remaining in pace. Portions of the beam have been carved away to created an indent with the flat bottom for displaying objects.
The Crown Candelabra is a candle holder made from a thick circular base of ash, with a series of smooth craters carved into its surface. Each of these indents hosts a candle stick made of twigs of coppiced hazel, with the tops left rough and a place for each candle carved into the the top. The spaces for the candles are lined with a brass-coloured metal.
A simple set of seven pegs on a hazel wood backboard and a picture frame made of two unconnected strips of wood that can be used to suspend a picture between them complete the collection.
Cox debuted the collection at TENT London last week as part of the London Design Festival.