07/09/2026
The Aalto sideboard – by Warren Turnbull Warren Turnbull
Available on auction at www.rubiomonocoat.co.za
Specie: Ash
Finish: Pre-Aging, Oil Plus 2C
Colour/s: Authentic no 6, Pure
Dimensions: 1600mm L × 850mm H × 360mm D
This piece started as a question: how far could I push a steam-bent lamination before it stopped feeling structural and started feeling like a single continuous line?
Every piece of ash in this build started life as 2000x60x10mm recycled strips – nothing here was bought as a finished board. The legs are laminated from those strips, steam-bent and glued up to sweep from a low stretcher, up through the leg, and directly into the top rail – one uninterrupted curve on each side, no joint breaking the line. The top is laminated from the same recycled stock, ripped and thicknessed down, giving it a tight, repetitive grain pattern that echoes the vertical strips in the bent legs – so the whole piece speaks one language even though the top and legs were built through completely different processes.
Underneath, two slim drawers float in the gap below the top rail – barely visible from the front, finished flush, hardware fully concealed on Blum undermount runners. Half lap joints hold the main frame together, honest and unfussy, while the drawer boxes are through-dovetailed at the back – a small, hidden detail of traditional joinery in an otherwise pared-back piece.
Makers:
Brandon Scheepers from MADE.
Francois Lensley & Hannes Coetzee from Francois Lensley
Francois Smith from Walkingwood
Gino Fernandez from Gino Fernandez
Graeme Brown from Browns Custom Studios
Greg Stock from Greg Stock
KC Croukamp from Kc Croucamp | The Woodworking Girlie
Morris Knudsen from TheMakersShedSA
Muhammad Ebrahim from YuRo designs - epoxy river tables
Njabulo Shabangu from Joshua Godboldt
Suzi McAfee from Suzi McAfee
Warren Turnbull from Warren Turnbull
Sponsors: Blum South Africa Bostik South Africa - Create, Repair, Bond & Seal Rubio Monocoat South Africa
Charity: CANSA