Architect Pascal François used the Nero dorato to make a sleek composition. The black laminate flooring and white cupboards divert all attention to the extrovert kitchen worktop and splashback. For the kitchen cabinet fronts François sought another type of expressive material, one that would interpret this graphic inspiration a different way, but without stealing the limelight. His eyes fell on the multiplex saw table tops that are used in natural stone firms. Through intensive use, these wooden table tops end up full of grooves. When many such table tops are brought together, their grooves just happen to look like an abstract composition by, for instance, Dan Van Severen or Mondriaan.
In order to make kitchen fronts, though, François needed a nobler type of wood, not those everyday throwaway multiplex boards. So, he chose a rich birch triplex and used it as the top material on saw tables for weeks. Only when their groove patterns were sufficiently graphic did François’s carpenter use the boards to make the upper and lower cabinet fronts, which serve as graphic baseboards and friezes in this iconic kitchen.
