Bjorling-Grant Walnut Desk
Adobe Oasis is an escape from work and schedules and clients and deadlines. Adobe Oasis is — in a seductive, albeit addictive sense — the quintessential anti-office!
And yet, you may find yourself inspired to pen a postcard to a friend. Or compose a poem. Maybe even fine-tune a sonata…
For your flights of creative genius, Adobe Oasis offers you the minimalist luxury of a handcrafted walnut desk.
Birth of a Masterpiece
This handsome bureau was custom designed and built for you by Bjorling-Grant (www.bjorlinggrant.com), the brainchild of a Minneapolis-based traveler, collector, designer and “relic hunter” named Ian Grant.
The furniture we make in our Minneapolis workshop is all done piece by piece, from selecting the raw slabs of lumber – all either FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) certified or reclaimed wood – for each project to hand milling, hand sanding, assembling and shipping. It’s all custom work done to the buyer’s sepcifications based on our loose design ethics of a sort of modern-organic-mid-century appeal. (The Bjorling-Grant Story)
We turned to Grant for a unique bureau that will transport you away from your humdrum workaday associations and into a refreshingly creative mindset. The minimalist walnut desk in the Adobe Oasis guest bedroom is not about work. It’s about calm. Communication. Creativity. Reflection. This desk will inspire you!
Green Design: From Slab to Oasis
Adobe Oasis is a green (ecologically responsible, non-toxic) home. We take that pledge seriously! Recycling, repurposing and fabrication with eco-friendly, chemical free materials was top priority. In the case of this one-of-a-kind walnut desk, we found the perfect design+build partner in Ian Grant.
The middle slab (in the image of three slabs) is what we used for the drawer fronts – it looks spectacular in person… The walnut we will use for this project is all locally sourced here in Minnesota. All dead fall or taken down urban trees that we get from various tree service companies around the Twin Cities. As I’m sure you… [understand] renewable forestry and sourcing is a big deal to us. ~ Ian Grant
Instead of synthetically derived sealers that would outgas for years to come, we asked Grant to finish the desk with natural linseed oil. We find that 12-15 coats of wiped-on-wiped-off linseed oil applied with plenty of time to dry in between offers one of the most handsome (and least noxious) finishes available. In addition a linseed oil finish is easy to maintain.
The following photographs chronicle the evolution of the walnut desk from salvaged lumber to museum-worthy, masterpiece composition ready desk. (Note: Click on any image for larger lightbox view.)
Who is Ian Grant?
Ian Grant is a travel aficionado with a passion and gift for ferreting out remarkable artifacts. You may know him better as the relic hunter. If not, the following video offers a brief introduction. Enjoy!
