Description
SORRY SOLD FOR $719- keep following our NEWLY LISTED Category.
SOLD UNDER CONSIGNMENT FROM MY CLIENT’S HOME IN NORTH BRISBANE FOR $719 IN THE FIRST HOUR it was listed on our website! (This item sold in 2019 directly from our website before it was listed elsewhere.) WE OPERATED AS THE SELLER’S AGENT AND ORGANISED THE FULL SALE ON THE SELLER’S BEHALF.
Provenance and Background Info
A stunning HAND-CRAFTED shelving unit / room divider made by Josef Tomek an artist who immigrated to Australia from Czechoslovakia in the middle of 20th century (after being held by the Germans as a prisoner of war). This piece was crafted in the 1960’s. It has strong cues from the Danish modern furniture movement happening at the time and has the fluidity and refined essence of a master. Tomek was an artist and inventor first and did some furniture-making on the side for the sheer love of it. If he’d devoted his life to furniture-making, I have no doubt he would have carved out a name similar to what Dario Zoureff, Schulim Krimper, Rosando Brothers and Jakob Rudowski did back in the 1950’s. The construction skill shown in this piece is in line with these makers and the creative skill just as impressive.
I haven’t stocked a shelving unit in iNVISeDGE for about 13 years now- I have little interest in shelves but have a lot of interest in this piece! I’d have it in my home in a second if I could. In my eyes this type of thing is the most special furniture investment money can buy. ONE-OFF pieces completely crafted and shaped BY HAND have an appeal mass-produced pieces will never have- they have a life-energy and love in them that’s rarely felt anymore. This is the type of thing I’m always striving to find for iNVISeDGE but rarely come up. The cabinetry skills required to build a piece of this stature have almost been lost in today’s world. Perhaps someone in Australia will see this listing and be inspired to make similar pieces for a new generation. iNVISeDGE has a band of buyers who will only go for something like this and that band is always growing.
The other thing this has going for it is its practicality- it could be used as a room divider or shelving unit because it’s beautiful from BOTH sides. If it was wider I may have given the piece a wide berth but it’s is long and narrow making it really practical in any home- brilliant in a bedroom to put a TV and DVD player on, great for a bare wall that needs something but where space is limited. And perfect in the hallway at the entry to rest your shopping on as you come in- you could even put your keys in a hand-made pottery bowl on a lower shelf.
And here’s probably the biggest selling point of the piece. IT’S CRAFTED FULLY FROM SOLID TIMBER. No crappy Parker veneer here (NO “Weetbix” chipboard, NO plastic laminate). With timber veneer over chipboard you can only sand them about twice before they end up as landfill. This piece has been crafted from SOLID slabs of Queensland Walnut so it can be sanded back as many times as you want. The construction skill is amazing- Josef Tomek has cut NO CORNERS. The piece was lovingly (and meticulously) crafted to last and it has- look at it after about 60 years of use!
From this standpoint it’s as environmentally-friendly purchase you can make but there’s so much more. It’s the inspiration and love the piece has that makes it special in my eyes. You could search high and low for decades and not find a shelving piece with more appeal … and I’ve seen similar items in Freedom Furniture for a similar price- so add investment appeal onto the top of the list for this one. Investing in items that are built to last generations (like this piece has already) is our only way out of this mess!
… If you would like to create pieces like this for iNVISeDGE get in contact with us- we’d be keen to work with you. When we get a following for your work the value of items such as this will increase. I believe there is a career in making items like this and we can help you shape this career. You might need to do some other work or standard custom-work at the start to supplement your “artist work” but if you can come up with items of this callibre it won’t take long for you to develop a strong following of devoted customers.
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