Poplar wood: spoons, spoons and "arte povera" furniture

We were having dinner with some friends and we talked about how much poplar furniture was made in Romania. In fact, it's still made. One of them was very surprised to hear that poplar, the wood that used to be used to make spoons and spoons, is used to make furniture and it is really beautiful. His amazement made me think that there might be others who don't know much about poplar wood and what it can be used for.

As I said, poplar wood was used in the past to make spoons, choppers and copes, as it is a soft wood that is easy to work with hand tools. And now many craftsmen use it to carve their products. The fashion for poplar furniture came from Italy, and is specific to central Italy. It copied the old designs of the "arte povera" style - a style that emerged in the 19th century, specific to the simple people, without polished carvings and other such details. The simple furniture style returned to Italy in the 1970s under the same name of arte povera. It is a furniture with a simple design, straight lines, made of solid poplar and very beautifully finished.

I'll come back to this furniture, but until then let me tell you a bit about poplar wood. It's specific to the temperate zones of Europe and Asia. Poplar (populus tremula) is a fast-growing species with a straight trunk that grows up to 20-25 m tall and can reach 3-4 m in diameter.

Structurally, it is a straight-fibered wood with a uniform structure, light brown heartwood and pale yellow to white sapwood, with no clear demarcation between the two areas.

The pores are quite numerous, average in size, spread throughout the annual ring without having a specific pattern.

Poplar wood is easily processed both manually and mechanically. In our poplar, which grows a lot in sandy soils, sand is sometimes found which, during processing, damages the tools. When drying it tends to curl. Being soft it has a low resistance to pulling out nails and creates problems when sanding, requiring sanding with finer sandpaper than other species (200-220).

Plywood is used to make plywood and chipboard, paper, jewellery boxes and decorative boxes,

braided pimples,

spoons, rustic serving platters, bowls

and arte povera style furniture.

Now this furniture is no longer the furniture of the simple and poor people. Quite the opposite, in fact. It's beautifully crafted, solid wood furniture with quality hardware. To give the feeling of simple furniture the drawers are "wood on wood", no mechanical guides.

Sometimes it is combined with linden or tulipwood to increase its strength. Because it is very loose, it can absorb colour differently and not look very uniform. But for some that's the appeal.

For those who want more uniform furniture there are special finishes for poplar that evens out the appearance in a few steps, so that in the end you get a very uniform and silky furniture.

Arte povera furniture is made for both living rooms and bedrooms,

as well as for the bathroom and kitchen.

The finish for the latter is made with materials that moisture resistant.

They still make arte povera furniture here. There are factories that manage to make real jewellery, attention to detail being their strong point.

Plywood is not a wood that says much when you look at an unfinished piece. Instead when the design and finish are well chosen, it makes for an exquisite piece of furniture that really deserves the name "arte povera", but with an emphasis on art because poor is far from it. 🙂