IDEA
For the sunny open veranda of this house in Millennium Park, architect Vladimir Lubarsky wanted not just a well-chosen and zoned furniture, but a truly unique solution. Looking through our brand's catalogue, Vladimir saw beautiful landscape sculptures in the form of large black stones. Then there came up an idea to apply this natural shape to outdoor tables. And to create a warm and cosy atmosphere of the home hearth, elegant bio-fires were built into the stone tables.
‘ENSO’ is an ancient Japanese symbol that personifies harmony and unity in nature. This name was chosen as a reflection of the balanced combination of natural elements embodied in this work: the shape of sea STONE (element of WATER) materialised in WOOD, combined with FIRE located on EARTH and fresh AIR - everything is mystically formed in it.

CREATION PROCESS
The grandiosity of this labour-intensive work was made up of several factors. The first is the material. For outdoor furniture, ordinary wood is not suitable. We need a more durable, moisture- and heat-resistant variant. Therefore, the choice fell on thermal wood. The wood for the tables was selected long and meticulously, of the most premium quality with a very beautiful solid pattern and without a single knot. Each table consists of 11 parts. The treatment of thermised wood and the creation of such a sculptural form in it requires special skill, as it becomes more brittle and therefore less ‘malleable’ when dried hard.
The second unique feature of stone fireplaces is the colour and texture. The noble chocolate shade was created not by tinting or painting, but by fire! Our own unique author's technology of firing, used in our workshop WOODZENART, has no analogues. Usually firing of wooden objects is made in two variations - light, creating spectacular divorces, and total deep to the state of ‘coal’ with cracks and, of course, its fatalistic charm. The firing used in this project both gently exposes the natural texture of the wood, which creates an incredibly pleasant tactile effect, and also gives it a uniform, very beautiful deep shade of dark chocolate. It is a labour-intensive, jewel-like and long process. Each firing is followed by a restoration stage to remove possible imperfections. There are up to 8 such firing-restoration cycles per fireplace-table. The final stage of the work is the coating of the finished tables with a special oil that protects them from UV light and precipitation.
When there is no need for an open fire, the bio-fireplaces are easily removed and specially designed wood covers are placed instead.

So despite the complexity of the task, our unique idea in collaboration with Vladimir Lubarsky was masterfully realised by the WOODZENART team.