2025 Academic Year Short Course Review 「Design Principles Applied to Wood Products：Marquetry with Veneers」

From 7-18 July, the course “Design Principles Applied to Wood Products： Marquetry with Veneers” was delivered under the guidance of Artist Chris Riederer at KFSTA China Centre.

This two-week course introduced students to the craft of marquetry– wood veneer decoration. Marquetry techniques have been used extensively in Europe, India and the Middle East to decorate wooden items of different scales, from tables to musical instruments to small boxes.

This technique achieves intricate designs ranging from geometric patterns to floral motifs. It is sometimes further embellished with inlay of bone, mother of pearl or silver. Today, veneer is still used to add rich and precious elements to beautifully designed contemporary objects. In this workshop, students learned all the design and craft techniques necessary to translate a pattern- a geometry or a biomorphic motif- into a marquetry panel.

Week1

In the first week, our expert tutor and artist Chris Riederer introduced different marquetry craft techniques and application to the students, guided them to learn about specific hand tools, their functions and utilization. Students on this short course also learned and understood the diversity of material usage and expression from technical aspects as well as aesthetics aspects.

In this week's course, students not only learned about the theoretical knowledge of marquetry, but also had their first attempt of marquetry focusing. To achieve more aesthetic effects, such as different brightness, shadows and chiaroscuro, students explored and selected natural-coloured veneers from different trees, did their own art experiment by skilfully matching them via fine cutting and gluing. Starting from cutting veneer pieces by chisel and scalpel, students managed to product their own decorative marquetry patterns.

In the course, students have mastered the technical knowledge and principles, and most importantly, have learned about the remarkable wisdom and perseverance of marquetry craftsman.

Week2

During the second week, students completed their own marquetry pieces from concept design to polishing and finishing, using their artistic imagination.

During the whole course, our tutor paid close attention to every detail of student's work and guided them through individual demonstration. With his guidance, our students learned about the different interpretations and expressions of marquetry techniques by hands-on practice.

Between classes, the tutor Chris Riederer visited the Suzhou Museum, appreciating traditional Chinese motifs and the craftsmanship of techniques like mother-of-pearl inlaying. He then shared these insights in class, sparking lively discussions on the Chinese and Western cultures and allowing a natural exchange of ideas to occur naturally in the classroom.