Tokyo Solid Oak Bookcase

Does Technology Spell an End to the Bookcase?

There has been much debate over the past few years as to whether the growing popularity of eBook Readers such as the Kindle or Nook is likely to spell an end to the traditional ‘dead tree book’.

Supposing, just for a minute, that eBook Readers continue to grow in popularity until the sales of traditional books fall into steady decline; what would happen to the humble bookcase? Is the bookcase purely an item of functionality – a case in which to hold books – or is there much more to it?

Bookcases for Displaying Books

To understand the popularity of the bookcase, we must consider the intriguing question of why we choose to display our reading material in the first place, rather than storing it away. Interior design writer, Leslie Geddes-Brown attempts to tackle this in her book ‘Books Do Furnish a Room’ (Merrell Publishers, 1 Sep 2009):

“Books were immensely prestigious. Not only did they show how very learned you were but they were also very expensive.”

Ms Geddes-Brown is referring to books in the 1930s, and while her comment may have less relevance to us in the 21st century when books are cheaper and readily available, it explains how the popularity of bookcases first came about. A bookcase was an excellent way to show off your book collection to guests and visitors, and perhaps we still use it for this purpose today. In an article entitled ‘What does your bookcase say about you?’ BBC magazine editor, Siobhan Toman, writes:

“It’s hard to escape the theory that there is an exhibitionist side to our bookcase obsession – it’s about showing off how much you have read, or plan to read, or pretend to have read.”

Mantis Dark Solid Mango Bookcase

Baku Light Mango Sideboard

Introducing Mango Furniture

Mango furniture is relatively rare when compared to oak furniture or mahogany furniture. This should not lead you to believe that it is in any way inferior to its more popular hardwood furniture cousins.

How do You Make Mango Furniture From Fruit?!

One of the questions that we are often asked is, ‘mangos are fruit, how can you make furniture out of fruit?’ The answer is quite simple – we don’t!

Mango wood is indeed the wood from a similar cultivar of mango tree as the fruit is harvested from, but rather than harvesting the fruit, the mango trees are grown specifically for their high quality furniture making properties. After all, virtually every tree produces fruit; it’s just that we don’t eat the samara from the mahogany tree, or acorns from the oak tree.

Tokyo Teak Mango Dining Set

Oak Living Room Furniture

Why Oak?

Whilst there is a huge selection of wooden furniture on the market these days, the wood that is most sought after is oak. So the question has to be asked: why oak? To answer that seemingly simple question we need to ask several others.

What influences us when choosing oak furniture?

It may seem obvious, but when deciding on what wooden furniture we want in our home, the first thing we think of is appearance. Oak furniture has a universal appeal that few other materials can match.

For example, there are those who see mahogany furniture as the height of opulence, but others don’t like it. This is probably because of it’s striking colour and generally grand designs.

Other people love the rustic appeal of dark mango furniture. But again, whilst it is undoubtedly beautiful furniture, it’s the sort of finish that appeals to those with a more exotic and adventurous pallet. Oak furniture seems to transcend this, but retains its luxurious charm.

Oak Bedroom Furniture

Solid Oak Dining Room Suite

Time For a Makeover?

With the sun finally showing itself more often from behind the clouds (and volcanic dust!), we can say that spring has sprung and summer’s on its way. It’s at this time of year that people often think about giving the house a spruce up and redecorating. After all, its an ideal time; the heat hasn’t really taken hold and one can fling the doors open to waft away the paint fumes!

Don’t Just Redecorate, Rejuvenate with New Furniture

Whilst the furniture is moved away from the walls and under the cover of dustsheets it’s a lot easier to see your room as a blank canvass and you will find yourself thinking about how your furniture fits into your new colour scheme. Sometimes people even redecorate to fit in with their existing furniture, even though they don’t necessarily like it!

Once the blank canvass is in front of you try to ignore the furniture layout you already have. Ask yourself some simple questions, such as:

• Does the TV have to be in that corner?
• What if the bed was turned through 90 degrees?
• Could we gain space by replacing the bookcase and chest of drawers with a glazed dresser?

Solid Oak Bedroom Suite