Australian designer Georgina Davies has used MDF to create a range of linear furniture that challenges expectations of the basic building material.
MDF (medium-density fibreboard) is typically covered or concealed when used in furniture making, but Davies wanted to show how the wood materials can evoke “quiet luxury” when given a more upscale treatment.
The Undressed collection consists of three items – a bedside table, a console table and a slim bookcase. All have been treated with black-stained edges and finished using a process called “French polishing,” in which multiple coats of shellac are applied to a piece of furniture to create a high-gloss finish with intense color.
In the past, this technique was used on expensive woods such as mahogany. But by applying it to MDF, Davies managed to give the material an almost golden sheen.
“After researching and experimenting with different sealing and coating methods, I was drawn to the unexpected warmth and richness that completely transformed it,” she told Dezeen.
The strict silhouette of the furniture was designed as a nod to the clear, geometric shapes of the Bauhaus school.
Davies was particularly inspired by K VII, a painting by artist and Bauhaus professor László Moholy-Nagy that depicts intersecting squares, rectangles and lines.
“The shapes in Moholy-Nagy's K VII were a reference point for how I wanted to read the pieces from different profiles; the designs began in my mind as geometric explorations rather than fully formed objects,” said Davies.
“The console also draws on Art Deco influences, so I wouldn't strictly categorize the collection into a single sentence. It's more of a mix of things that I'm drawn to.”
Other industry participants are also beginning to explore the potential of medium-density fiberboard. Earlier this year, Dutch designer Arno Hoogland transformed MDF into wall panels and furniture with hypnotic, three-dimensional patterns created by a CNC router.
“MDF is not the most elegant material – no one is proud to use it,” he told Dezeen in an interview at the time. “But I wanted to show that MDF can be beautiful.”
The photography is by Leif Prenzlau.