PUBLISHED
TABLES
SEPTEMBER 2002
Southern Accents
November - December, 2000
Catskill
Collage
By TIMOTHY JACK WARD
(NYT) 514 words
Published: October 6, 1996
Bo
van den Assum's house nestled in the Catskills is the kind of
place where you might expect to find a country-cutesy look --
cozy quilts and cast-iron doorstops shaped like Scotties. Instead,
there's a gritty, exotic atmosphere that seems anomalous in this
crisply whitewashed lodge. It looks as if a traders' caravan of
night visitors has crashed for the weekend.
The
floors are casually strewn with layers of weathered carpets redolent
of dust and frankincense. There are chunky tables, teetering bedposts
on stout, turned legs, and spangled pillows piled in friendly
disorder. From the rafters waft veils of batik. Everything seems
to come from somewhere else, including van den Assum himself,
who grew up in Dongen, the Netherlands, and speaks with a lilt
that oddly befits a place once known as Camp Rip van Winkle, formerly
a Roman Catholic boys' camp.
His
furniture comes from Lamu island, one of an archipelago that is
30 minutes -- by dhow -- off the coast of Kenya, near Somalia.
The tiny Swahili coast island has been known since the 14th century
as a sort of intercontinental trading outpost. A thick, spicy
soup of diverse design influences simmers on the island, and the
resulting motifs are expressed in its rustic, ornamental woodcarving.
Once
a corporate lawyer for KLM, van den Assum says he regularly visited
Lamu ''when I had lots of free mileage to use.'' He bought a home
there and launched Lamu Industries, his own line of furniture,
which is handmade of mbambakofi, an East African hardwood that
resembles mahogany.
When
he's not in Kenya or Catskill, most any afternoon you'll find
van den Assum in his SoHo warehouse showroom, polishing table
tops and telling stories about the steamy island or his mainland-bound
furniture. TIMOTHY JACK WARD
Photos:
ABOVE When he bought the house in 1982, van den Assum found dog-eared
black-and-white photographs that tell of its previous incarnation
as a spartan summer camp for boys. RIGHT A centuries-old bed brought
from Lamu, originally from India, has a mattress supported by
braided palm fronds. The wobbly, spindled head and footboards
are stained with mud paint. The Hindi-style leg has been assimilated
into other Lamu furniture designs. (pg. 42); LEFT A modern Lamu
dining table with Hindi-style legs graces one end of a room that
once served meals to 100 boys. Karasi- and Dodoki-style chairs
from Lamu are joined at the table by two well-worn farmhouse kitchen
chairs, which were purchased at a flea market. The canvas floor
cloth was hand-painted by Rebecca Buffelle. TOP In the parlor
an assortment of exotic masks from West Africa replaces the stuffed
elks' heads you might expect. The 1830 house is heated by cast-iron
stoves. BOTTOM On a table in the entry foyer is a ceremonial vessel
from Lamu, which opens to form a chalice. (PHOTOGRAPH BY ANTOINE
BOOTZ FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES) (pg. 45)
New York Times, October
1996
The
New York Times, August 26, 1993
The New York
Times, May 9, 1996
Garden Design June/July,
2000 Garden
Design, May
1999
Architectural
Digest, June 1999
Architectural Digest, November
1998
Town
& Country, April 1995
Village Voice, June
2, 1998
|
WHAT
WE MAKE
Solid Mahogany
Tables, of a timeless beauty.
All tables are
hand carved, dated, numbered and signed. We'll even carve in
your Family Crest or your Initials.
Our tables have
a feel of Masculine Majesty and a seeming provenance of the European
Renaissance.
Robust as they
are, they will last in your home or office for many generations.
OUR
GUARANTY:
Each Mahogany Tables piece is
fully unique;
There are no other
pieces like it anywhere, guaranteed. |
|
Your Family Crest carved in Mahogany
Back to Home
Page |
Mahogany
Dining Tables 
Rectangle
Mahogany Coffee Tables
Consoles
& Sofa Tables
Square
Mahogany Coffee Tables 
Mahogany Conference Tables
Smaller Coffee Tables
Mahogany Round Tables
Mahogany Library Tables 
Armoires
Beds
Mahogany Planters
The
Exotic Island of Lamu
