Imperfection Is Perfect

Dear wood lovers,

As an oak timber merchant, I’ve been in quite a bind lately. In the past, wood was just wood. You had wood with knots, cracks, and yes, sometimes even a characteristic wormhole; that was simply part of it. All signs of an authentic, natural material. But what does the customer want today? The current generation has seen so many plastic imitators of wood-patterned laminate and PVC that this has become their frame of reference. The wood now has to look like PVC. It’s the world turned upside down.

It is our task as timber merchants and sellers to re-educate people, so that they can once again appreciate the beauty of individuality in materials, instead of characterless imitations. For the holiday stories are beautiful when they return from the rented country house with a swimming pool in Italy, where the staircase has worn beautifully over time and the large dining table tells the stories of the hundred tenants who stayed there before. Upon returning home, they try to hold on to the authenticity they enjoyed so much for a little while longer.

But even the case of oak-barreled Verdicchio dei Castelli they smuggled back tastes different once back home. After a week, potatoes are being mashed again at precisely five-thirty at the worm-free table with the oak print. And from that moment on, the longing for the next well-deserved vacation begins once more.

Yet, once at home, everything has to be perfect, without the 'flaws' that life itself has engraved into it. Beautiful texture or pattern in the floorboards? No way. A knot here or there? A wormhole? They look at you as if they've seen firewood burning and then secretly buy the oil product. The neighbor thinks it's wood anyway, because he doesn't know any better either.

So, dear people, let us embrace real wood again, with all its natural beauties and imperfections. For just as in life, it is the imperfections that make it interesting. Or will we soon have to trade in our personalities for a plastic version as well?

The next phone call… No ma’am, Formica is not a type of wood!

Right, that's it. Got that off my chest.

Have a nice rest of your day.

PS. People who are not afraid of character can call me for beautiful wood: +31 (6) 22546945.