Manufacturing & materials

Manufacturing

Ever since the start in 1993, Norrgavel has consistently chosen to manufacture furniture from pure natural materials created with the help of photosynthesis. This is the cycle in which plants and living organisms utilise energy from sunlight.

The untreated furniture is surface treated, painted and assembled on site at the production facilities in Lammhult, where the final quality control is also carried out. The vast majority of Norrgavel's furniture is manufactured by selected joineries in Småland, Skåne and the Baltic States. Thanks to this, transports are short and the environmental impact is less. The carpenters stand for great professionalism and experience, often going back several generations. A solid knowledge of craftsmanship is required, because even with the best and most modern machines, some elements must be done by hand. Starting to manufacture a new product for Norrgavel is a long-term commitment based on mutual trust. A sense of quality, professional pride and accuracy are crucial factors in choosing a new joinery.

The options are endless with Norrgavels furniture. The idea is that each customer should be given the opportunity to be a co-creator of their personally designed furniture, thus matching specific wishes and needs. The customer-driven production means that Norrgavels furniture usually has a delivery time of 1-12 weeks.

Materials

At Norrgavel, we use natural materials. By that, we mean that the materials come from nature, from plants or animals. Our decision to work with natural materials means our furniture will age beautifully and naturally. The materials we use also benefit from use. Many of the pieces can be restored to their original condition by sanding and oiling, for example.

At Norrgavel, we love using solid wood for our furniture - this vibrant and durable natural material that also binds carbon dioxide (CO₂). No two pieces of furniture are the same, precisely because each individual tree leaves its own personal imprint on every piece of furniture. Wood from the same species can have completely different conditions depending on where and how the tree has grown. And even after the tree has been felled and sawn into timber, the natural material continues to be affected by the surrounding environment.

This is why we choose to call wood a living material. Because wood reacts to moisture and temperature, it lives with the seasons.

Norrgavel mainly uses Scandinavian wood species such as birch, oak and beech. We mainly stick to solid wood because this is utility furniture that should withstand wear and tear over generations. As upholstery material we use everything from horsehair and kroll, to natural rubber and seabird feathers. Our textiles are mostly made of linen, wool and cotton. Tactile and comfortable materials that exhibit qualities similar to our own cycle - birth, breathing, skin, ageing....

With a desire for authenticity and sincerity, we also want the materials to be what they appear to be.

Birch

White birch (Betula pubescens) is the most hardwearing of deciduous trees. Along with aspen, they were the very first trees in Sweden, arriving about 10,000 years ago. The wood is relatively heavy, very solid, elastic and takes surface treatment well. Birch is considered to be one of the most important hardwoods in the world because it is so practical.

The colour of the wood varies from red-white to yellow-white with subtly visible rings. Birch yellows with age but can be kept light using white oil.

The birch we use at Norrgavel usually comes from Sweden (shorter lengths), Finland and the Baltic countries.

Oak

There are more than 200 species in the oak family. The common oak (Quercus robur) that we use at Norrgavel is relatively fast growing (it grows to about 25 metres tall) with a wide trunk that can be 2 metres in diameter.

Oak has clear growth rings and very visible medullary rays, also known as pith rays, formed by the sap moving through the wood perpendicular to the rings. These are part of the grain and add character. The wood is hard, relatively heavy, strong and easy to split. In terms of colour, oak is a slightly greyish beige, but takes on different characters depending on its surface treatment.

Historically, oak has long been a high-status material for interiors and furniture. Norrgavel always seeks to use Swedish timber in the first instance, and otherwise timber produced as close to Sweden as possible, which means that we avoid oak from North America, for example. Unfortunately, Swedish oak is difficult to use in furniture because it is cross-grained and has a high proportion of knots. For this reason, we mainly use oak timber that comes from Poland or the Balkan countries.

Beech

Stuffing materials

Concrete

In principle, concrete can be seen as a pure, natural material. Its long lifetime makes it especially environmentally friendly.

There are different ways of casting concrete to produce varying looks. Our table tops are cast in a way that makes it easy to see that this is a piece of genuine craftsmanship.

Wet polishing

The concrete is polished using water and diamond sandpaper in several stages to produce an even, smooth surface that is not particularly shiny. All concrete skin (the top layer of a concrete slab) is removed by polishing, so the ballast in the slab emerges. This version has more mottling and vibrancy.

Concrete is fundamentally an absorbent material which means that concrete table tops need to be treated to make them suitable for domestic use. Our concrete slabs undergo several stages of surface treatment to provide as much protection as possible. This process involves a sealant which is worked down into the table top itself. This liquid penetrates about 1–3 mm into the concrete, sealing the small pores that are inside the slab. This makes the concrete much less absorbent. The process is finished off by coating the surface with a hard wax oil followed by polishing.