A Visit with Normando
This tropical-style home exudes a warmth that’s matched by the happy personality of its owner. With his business, Javanese Collections, importing recycled teak furniture, Normando Do Carmo was able to turn his home into a showcase for his products. His modern, split-level, sub-penthouse apartment features many of his unique designs. “With its two balconies overlooking the water, I knew the apartment would be a great place for my pieces,” he says. “The original decor was rather bare and empty, it needed to feel like a home. I wanted to make it seem as though you’re coming into a resort, with a similar sense of freedom and relaxation.” The exterior of the development is designed with a similar resort-like appeal, which means that Normando’s furniture is a perfect match and an extension of the architect’s creative vision. “The beauty of recycled teak and handcrafted furniture is that it can adapt to any style that relates to water or a tropical climate – whether it be Balinese or Mediterranean – and we all appreciate that relaxed mood at the end of the day,” explains Normando. Not only is the furniture he imports extremely versatile, it’s also individual, with many pieces unique. “The villagers trade one-off pieces with me as they trust me and know I bring good things to the villages,” he says. The dining table in his apartment, for instance, is made from a single piece of timber and is 1.75m across and 17cm thick. “This is a very rare piece, as you can’t cut a tree of that diameter these days,” he is quick to explain. “That piece of timber is over 1000 years old and was cut many generations ago. I’m lucky I can tap into these old pieces.” Other furnishings, including the daybed, entertainment unit and console and the beds, were made to Normando’s own design.
NEW LIFE FOR OLD
Normando’s business is based on recycled teak products and this only adds to the furniture’s appeal. “I work with two villages in Java and create the product in the villages,” he reveals. “I have access to old homes, old boats and discarded logs. I select all the timbers and products myself and have my designs made in a factory in the village.” This approach enables the villages to retain their traditional craftsmen, as well as being environmentally sustainable. “Most imported teak is 40 per cent plantation and 60 per cent rainforest,” he notes, “I use only 100 per cent recycled teak, and the trees we use have fallen naturally – I don’t buy pre-cut logs. The business is able to help the villages, as much of the profit stays with them.” In fact, Normando often buys entire houses that are 80 to 200 years old and pays enough money for the owners to build new, structurally sound houses. “When we buy a house, we often purchase the furniture in it as well,” he says. “We restore the pieces and find them a new home.”
NOTHING ELSE LIKE IT
Normando understands that for most of his customers the appreciation of his wares is enhanced by knowing a little of its history and so, while his enjoyment of working with such a unique and versatile material is obvious, his pleasure extends to recounting the adventures and excitement involved in putting together the range, which includes several unusual kinds of teak. “Village elders told me about timber underground, in rice fields near volcanoes that had erupted many years ago,” he relates. “Lava flowed over the trees, leaving them preserved three to four metres underground. After the rice harvest, when the ground is rested, we were able to dig up teak that had been underground for up to 200 years. Some is honey coloured, some is black from contact with minerals underground,” he explains. This timber is used to make pieces featuring a combination of light and dark teak. “Teak is an incredible timber,” he says. “It can be used to make ships and, due to its natural oils, can withstand saltwater, rain and sun.” Some of Normando’s furniture is made from old railway sleepers, which have been underground for 100 years since Dutch settlers built railways into the forest. These decayed over time, leaving some of the sleepers underground with rice fields on top. “With the help of the villagers, we are digging them out,” he says. His respect for his product continues through to the production process and he ensures the furniture is made with as few screws and nails as possible. “Timber is alive and responds to the climate, so we use dowels and dovetail joints where we can,” he explains. “A nail will not move, but a piece of dowel will always move, so the furniture won’t crack. It adapts to the weather and the humidity. Some people choose chipboard and MDF furniture – they are lucky if they get two years out of it. There is no comparison with a piece of timber where small dents and cracks actually enhance the piece.”
ART OF RELAXATION
The beautiful furniture is the undoubted star of the apartment’s interior and so a neutral palette of off-white walls and ceiling teamed with biscuit-coloured carpet was chosen as the perfect backdrop to set off the mix of dark and light timber. Richly-hued silky fabrics and textured off-white linen introduce shots of colour and tactile contrast and add to the exotic feeling. For Normando, the most important and most relaxing piece of furniture is the daybed. “There are no lounges here, my lounge is the daybed,” he declares. “A daybed is a piece of furniture you grow to love, and once you experience it you will never go back to a lounge!” And he backs this statement up in his business by featuring a large range of original, restored daybeds as well as contemporary designs. The bedroom is where Normando feels most at ease and taking pride of place is a bed made from 500-year-old teak, with posts measuring 25cm square. “This bed is an example of how long a piece of timber can last,” he says. “I feel warmth and energy and a sense of history from this bed. Its timber has seen so much, it’s still here being used and will last another 500 years.” For Normando, the spirit of the timber lives on, and he makes it easy for others to feel it too. “A phrase that inspires me is ‘every piece has a heart, a soul and a story to tell’. This is my inspiration to do what I do and for choosing what I bring into my gallery.”
STORY KATE WILLIAMS PHOTOGRAPHY TONY POTTER STYLING AMY FROST
MODERN HOME Magazine- Vol5 No4 www.modernhomemagazine.com.au/content/timber-touch
