When furniture maker Terry Facey began repairing historical pieces, his work often centered around 17th-century examples, thanks to an antique dealer who regularly brought him new items. Over time, the practice instilled a love for the beauty and precise craftsmanship of these centuries-old objects. And one day, he decided to try making one himself—only his iteration was really, really small.
Facey works out of his shed, set up much the same as any other wood shop, except that everything is optimized for making scale miniatures. Recently, the V&A commissioned him to replicate an ornate, 17th-century table in its permanent collection at 1:8 scale. “It’s a piece that I’ve always loved,” Facey says. “It’s got the most wonderful barley twist legs, lovely inlay top with olive wood on six-sided pieces. It’s quite unique. I don’t usually see pieces with that configuration of veneer.”
To begin, Facey takes measurements of the original c.1674 marquetry table at the V&A in London Kensington. He then forages for twigs straight enough for carving an itty bitty version, and salvages 300-year-old oak from an old drawer because the old-growth wood has a grain that’s tighter, sturdier, and easier to work with than the modern oak one can buy at a home store, for example. “The old oak in this (drawer) is so fantastic,” Facey says. “To be able to use this as opposed to modern oak is just chalk and cheese.”
Armed with chisels and saws that are very sharp and fine, Facey meticulously cuts dovetail joints and carves the replica twisted legs on a tiny lathe. He creates the tabletop from slices of the foraged twigs, reveling in the patterns that emerge from inside a seemingly unimpressive branch. Even tinier pieces are sliced from the heartwood to recreate the six-sided veneer pieces.
Facey’s construction sheds light on the intricate process of furniture building, especially the art of elaborate veneer, no matter the scale. He says, “The olive wood table in the V&A, the fella who made it—or the people who made it, because they’re probably more than one—they used almost identical techniques [to] the techniques that I’ve used.”
See the video, and more like it, on the V&A’s YouTube channel.
