01 Woodblocks

Woods’s prints begin as marker drawings on acetate. “We have a set of patterns that have been reduced from wood grain,” he says, “and we use them as a library, and change them around. So it really doesn’t take very long.” He sources the prints from his library and sizes them to register precisely on each panel of the furniture. Then comes what Wrong calls “productionization of an artisanal process.” While Woods would photocopy his drawings onto 1:1 sheets, glue them to the woodblocks, and cut the grooves with a handheld router, Wrong and Lauber turned them into digital files, which the computer numerically controlled (CNC) machine can rout without hands. Lauber simulated the irregularity of a vibrating handheld machine by drawing meticulously wobbly lines. While this step is computerized, the printing step–when the MDF woodblocks are applied to the furniture pieces–uses basic machinery. Woods used to press the blocks with a cast-iron garden roller, but it’s a diffi-cult way to apply even pressure, so the team decided to use a hydraulic press.