Rustic furniture?

Looking through a number of magazines recently, my understanding of the term ''rustic'' when applied to furniture was seriously challenged. Just to be sure of myself I looked the term up in the dictionary. ''1. Rustic, pertaining to, or characteristic of country life. 2. Charmingly simple and unsophisticated, lacking refinement or polish. 3. Made of rough tree branches. 4. Having a rough surface with deep or chamfered joints.'' It didn't say anything about shoddily made, ugly or overpriced???? So what were these items I could see, so seductively photographed in charming settings. Opportunistic! That’s it, I thought. These are just the latest offerings of the jump on the bandwagon, get rich quick and move on brigade. These people have been involved in fitted carpets, double glazing, decking and it looks like they are now turning their attention to furniture. Especially the rustic kind, because, shoddy workmanship can easily be dressed up to look like the authentic touch of ‘country style’, it is not.

Rural craftsmen had to know how to make all kinds of farm equipment, from a plough to a hay cart and then the barn to keep them in. These very real skills were scaled down to make furniture when time permitted. Naturally they set out to make the best furniture they could, with what they had available and more importantly what the local people could afford. Working in a small community they had to give value for money or go out of business. It is exactly this combination of the rough materials and lack of sophisticated design, executed with a high level of skill that gives the lasting appeal to country furniture.

I love these old pieces, quite often made from a mixture of oak, elm and fruitwood and marvel at the painstaking ingenuity that has gone into the construction. These are light years away from the re-assembled pallets and packing cases I referred to above. Of course the genuine articles are becoming rare and difficult to find nowadays, however good makers are still producing excellent reproductions. These do lack the some of the quirky features found on the originals, but still represent good value for money. If you intend to buy rustic furniture do a little research and be discriminating.

Green woodworking skills are currently enjoying a revival and much credit must go to Mike Abbott for this. These are slightly different to the skills I was talking about above and owe more to the Bodgers than say the village carpenter. For some, this furniture made from green wood and often still retaining the bark, more than any other represents rustic furniture. Interestingly this pieces have a chameleon characteristic that makes them at home in any setting, especially a modern one.