HOW IT STARTED

 

Arne ter Laak is The Lumberjack. The name originates from his work as a lumberjack, maintaining a little forest that he owns in the east of the Netherlands. In that forest he plants, prunes and cuts trees. Working with wood, cutting, sawing, chopping and stacking wood, inspired him. He started using the wood for making objects, art pieces, driven by a vision of coarse logs and geometric shapes. Juxtaposing the warmth of wood and the coolness of geometry. They were large objects, both indoor pieces and outdoor projects.

His father inspired Arne’s early work. His father made geometric objects from carboard and geometric designs from layered sheets of cut-out cardboard.

Early design picked up by the Volkskrant

MOVE TO INTERIOR DESIGN

The art pieces made from the coarse, untreated wood were a stepping stone to furniture and interior design. He started using processed wood and plywood to make cabinets, lamps and tables and opened a studio in Amsterdam. The driving forces stayed the same, wood and geometry. His work draws on classical wood working and craftsmanship but applies them to less traditional and bolder designs. It references the work from Joaquim Tenreiro, a father of Brazilian furniture design in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Tenreiro was a forerunner in the use of rediscovered raw materials as well as the creator of a new modernistic Brazilian furniture design.

Joaquim Tenreiro Bookshelf 1950 Bossa Furniture

Donald Judd chairs – late 1970s

A great example for The Lumberjack is Donald Judd. He is generally considered the leading international exponent of “minimalism”. His work often consists of simple forms, boxes, that are stacked and grouped The Lumberjack has a similar aspiration for simplicity. Simplicity and geometric shapes guide the quest for aesthetic balance, Lumberjack style. Designs are counter intuitive and surprise the beholder.

MATERIAL USE

Wood is the base material, veneer, usually walnut, or solid wood with a special origin. That origin could be a tree from Amsterdam soil that was processed by Stadshout, or Arne’s own forest in which oaks, cherries and walnuts grow. The Lumberjack is constantly looking for unique color and grain patterns which form a fundamental part of his designs.

Wood from Amsterdam trees from Stadshout – Silver Maple and Elm

Another frequently used material is black steel. Wood combines beautifully with the dark, untreated and slowly corroding steel.

BUY A DESIGN OR HAVE A CUSTOM DESIGN MADE

Lumberjack pieces are unique pieces. Each piece is designed and made by Arne in his studio in Amsterdam. Lamps are designed, produced and then sold. They can be reordered in different sizes and different types of wood.
Cabinets and tables are usually designed specifically for a customer, tailored to the dimensions and specifics of the target location and the customer wishes.

Example project

A customer had an old, large chestnut in his garden that needed to be cut down. He had the wood sawn into thick planks and dried them in a barn for over a year. The tree had sentimental value and he wanted to preserve some of the wood and turn it into a table and a bookcase on the wall. He contacted The Lumberjack. They met to explore the client’s wishes and to investigate the wood. The Lumberjack made a series of designs combining steel and the chestnut wood, in close coordination with the customer. When the final design was approved, the wood was loaded onto a pickup truck and transported to the studio in Amsterdam. Arne made a detailed design for the steel shop to produce to table legs and the shelf brackets. In the meantime, he worked on the chestnut planks, cutting of the sides with the bark, straightening the wood in the planer and giving it the right thickness. This required careful consideration because the planks were twisted significantly, which is typical of chestnut wood. Finally, the planks were sawn to the required sizes, prepared for construction and oiled. When the steel parts arrived the table and bookcase were brought to the customer and installed in his home.

PUBLICATIONS AND DESIGN FAIRS

Work from The Lumberjack is featured in various Dutch magazines, such as Volkskrant Magazine, FD Persoonlijk, Eigen Huis & Interieur, Vogue Living en Harper’s Bazaar Art & Interior.
In 2024 he presents work at Masterly during the Milan Design Week.