A Creative Collaboration Inspired by the Boreal Forest

“At first we wanted to work with wood and leather to make everyday objects, but in the end, after our first meeting we decided to make a small piece of furniture,” explains Sylvie Laframboise, cabinetmaker.

This piece of furniture, a low stool with a leather lid, allowed Sylvie to revisit her expertise in art furniture while offering lestherworker Julie-Soleil Nadeau the opportunity to explore the technique of sheathing on wood.

Local Materials and Boreal Theme: an Inspiring Duo

The theme of the boreal forest played a central role in this project, influencing material choices and artistic decisions.

“Our theme is the boreal forest. That’s why we decided to work with really local materials. We could have used market leather, but that would have been less symbolic,” says Sylvie. In fact, the artisans chose unusual leathers: “I had a contact with a leather tanning research center that is developing sustainable tanning methods. We asked them to send us moose leather and salmon leather,” says Sylvie.

Making Inspiration a Reality: The Challenges of Production

The creation of this piece of furniture required a careful selection of materials and a keen attention to detail. Julie-Soleil worked carefully to cover the top of the bench with moose leather while adding small salmon leather inlays:

“This project was really a challenge for me. I had never worked with fish leather or moose leather, which is a much more elastic leather,” she confides. “I went completely out of my comfort zone, with materials I had never touched before, neutral colors… But in the end, I found a good way of working and I am happy with the result.”

The limited amount of leather available added additional pressure, making any mistakes potentially costly:

"I was nervous about this project because the amount of leather we had was really tight. I couldn't make a mistake! Especially since moose is a wild animal and let's be clear, there are a lot of marks, scars, and parts of the skin that were rougher, etc. I was afraid that it would be more fragile in the long run."

The use of reclaimed wood from a previous cabinet production also added a sustainable and responsible dimension to the project. Finally, Sylvie engraved a black spruce pattern on the legs of the piece of furniture, reinforcing the boreal forest theme.

For Sylvie, creating a piece of furniture by hand required a lot of patience and rigor, an essential aspect of her profession:

“A piece of furniture made by hand takes a long time. I spent at least thirty hours on this project! When you learn the cabinetmaking trade, you understand that you have to be a perfectionist. Everything has to be perfect. It’s a kind of illness (she says, miming a nervous tic)! The question is: when do you stop? But, at the same time, your product has to meet the arts and crafts standards.” Julie-Soleil continues: “We work manually, so your product will never be perfect, but it will be very well made, we are not machines, and that’s the beauty of it!”

A Headful of Ideas for Future Projects

This fruitful collaboration inspired Sylvie and Julie-Soleil to consider other projects together. Julie-Soleil says:

"I had already approached Sylvie to do some sheathing on the small boxes that she makes. It's a project that I still have in mind. Maybe for next year..."

They also plan to explore new and more colorful themes.

But the theme of the boreal forest will not be abandoned, at least for Sylvie who plans to continue using it for her personal creation:

“This project allowed me to find boreal forest themed images and to want to push it further in my personal production because it speaks to me enormously.”

In short, this experience not only strengthened their creative partnership, but also paved the way for new artistic explorations. With this enriching experience, they are ready to continue their creative adventure, with a renewed vision and a shared desire to continue to innovate while respecting craft techniques. Beyond the creation of a piece of furniture, this partnership has laid the foundations for a promising collaboration. We can't wait to see what happens next!

Discover the other collaborative projects in the 50th anniversary special collection