Charming and with an antique flavour, the shellac lacquer antiqued finish never ceases to surprise and attract the eye. Characteristic of the shellac lacquer is the brilliance which, as a standard, is 60 gloss. A yellowish brown bituminous film is spread over the colour, which avoids the colour being too homogeneous accentuating its chiaroscuro.

The stripping carried out on prominent surfaces and on shapes and carvings allows the colour of the wood to emerge.
Let’s follow all the steps of this fascinating process together!

Step 1 – The lacquered furniture arrives in the workshop. The stripping stage begins, a treatment that is done with a solvent and gives the furniture an antique effect

Step 2 – Through a dye the color of the furniture changes from optical white to a softer white, a cream shade that gives an additional sense of antiquity

Step 3 – Finally, with a darker dye, the antiquing is enhanced on all the details.

The furniture is now ready to be delivered!

The magic starts here: after having spread the water-based dye on the product to give color to the wood, the first step is the application of the “patina”.

This film enters the pores so as to bring out the grains, highlighting the material and accentuating the differences, the shading, the chiaroscuro.

A transparent varnish is applied.
The paint is then dabbed with extreme care.

The third step involves the use of beeswax to give a touch of lived-in look to the finish.

The beeswax is then spread further and gently dried with a cloth.

Finally, the last step: the powder is distributed over the furniture, giving it its splendid final appearance.

The patina of time transforms the furniture into contemporary and classic pieces at the same time.

Magic? A matter of details: SALDA brasses like small elzeviro decorate our collections making them unique and precious. Indeed, very precious.

Golden or silver colored, satin or patinated.

The brasses are the final touch of a skilful artisan path made of an unrepeatable manual experience.

They can recall the echoes of the footsteps in the rooms of Versailles and they never, ever can never be banal or go out of fashion.

The brasses give their best in the edges of tables, desks or dressers.

They keep secrets inside the drawers, enhance the mahogany and brown tones of the finest woods and essences. Precious and vibrant materials, beautiful finishes among the crystal glasses and bottles.

SALDA brass components are made in fusion and not industrially printed.

Such they are hand-mounted on each piece and on request they can be customised in the desired finishes.

Discover them all on our website.

A classic effect with a classic technique.

The brushing lacquer is appreciated for its opacity and its naturalness, obtained through the passage of a bristle brush that distributes the color on the surface.

The effect is ancient and splendid. The lacquer is patinated and peeled, giving its best on protruding surfaces, corners and carvings.

The application of the color takes place directly on the surface of the furniture, with a brushstroke of the skilled master craftsmen.

The effect is different but at the same time similar, whether it is performed on carvings or on plain surfaces.

Its unique feature? The streak, the “lines” of the brushstroke.

Unmistakable.

Get ready, we’re about to travel through time.

Since 1300, China has produced the finest and most beautiful furniture with woods and essences of spiritual significance. Artists and wise men worked together to create furniture that told a story worth passing down.

Even our sideboard tells a story, a story that echoes between rosewood, bronze and the finest marble.

The panels of the doors narrate scenes from the past, with a landscape originally drawn by hand on paper and in pencil, in black and white.

The suggestion of color comes later, when the design is carried over with a transfer technique on the doors and then painted in such a way as to become similar to a delicate watercolor.

After defining the details, the design is fixed with a special technique that makes the panel look like an ancient parchment. A precious, unique credenza.

“May you live in interesting times”

Chinese proverb.

2021 has been a busy year, and full of novelties too.

We have been working on new, different finishes with a contemporary spirit and an artisan touch. We present you our straw marquetry finish and our 100% full gloss lacquer, both perfect to refine every furniture, whether contemporary and classic.

Natural straw has only the characteristic straw color. The straw strands we use are soaked with coloured vegetable oils to obtain a wide variety of bright and vivid colors, that give brightness to the product.

How do we make it?

Our artisans open each tube in two parts, then they flatten and lay basing on a geometrical design. This technique creates a vibrant, translucent chiaroscuro effect. The light is captured and reflected by a thousand threads of straw: every reflection is unique.

Colours available:

An inspiration that comes from the East and from thousands of chinoiserie objects.

Our 100% full gloss lacquer gives surfaces a smoothness and a brilliance comparable to traditional Chinese lacquer, an effect given by the application of layers of varnish and the manual polishing process.

It performs best on smooth surfaces, not provide antiquing or peeling.

Colours available:

The union of these two new finishes creates unusual and surprising combinations.

We strongly want to be surprised again, by new combinations and new mixes.

Check out our Tris coffee table with full gloss forest green, with gold leaf and brass details.

Here’s how our new straw marquetry goes superb with the classic design.

An evergreen sideboard coming from tropical Jungla

Welcome to the Jungle.

Salda’s spirit wisely mixes the classic canons – in this case Louis XV style – with surprisingly contemporary and current decorations taking inspiration directly from the branches of the wildest and most unexplored Jungle.

A unique sideboard for design and craftsmanship that replaces the traditional refined carving and inlay relief decorations: the individual parts that make up the decoration are handmade, in plaster and rabbit glue applied to the raw furniture and left on for 24 hours.

Every single element appears different from the others because it really is: the leaves are created with chisels of different sizes, sandpaper of different grain and brushes of all kinds.

After plaster is applied a coat of nitro primer, sanded to make all uniform surfaces ready to be painted.

A piece that seems to come directly from the maps of sixteenth-century explorers but which is actually the re-edition of an original model produced by Salda at the beginning of the twentieth century. The original decoration once consisted of flowers and traditional bronzes, now replaced by a precious relief decoration and refined knobs with floral motif made in bronze casting.

Characteristic of the tempera lacquer, the so-called “French” lacquer, is the opacity. The French lacquer is patinated and peeled,especially on prominent surfaces and on shapes and carvings, which is where the lacquer coincidentally performs the best.If the client wishes to maintain a matte and “watery” finish but does not want any antiquing, please indicate it when ordering.

After having appropriately dyed the raw wood to give it uniformity, the first layer of tempera lacquer is applied.

Once dry, a particular solvent is passed on the prominent parts, on the carvings or on the edges by rubbing with a cotton cloth.This is to simulate the effect of a worn furniture on its points of greatest friction.

Last step of the “antique” finishing processi is the usage of patinas. Usually we apply a bituminous patina, with a warm and yellowy color.

It helps to obtain a chiaroscuro effect, giving depth to carvings and outlines and adding a warmer effect to color itself.Eventually the patina can be also applied with a brush, splashing little dark brown spots on the surface.All of these steps are part of the antique effect process to give more lived impression to each item.

If requested by he client, we can add contrasting color profiles as well as gold or silver leaf profiles.

These last ones are made putting a sort of glue, called “missione” on the surfaces on which we want to add gold.Then, the leaf is placed, the excess is cleaned up and, eventually, the gold or silver can be patinated.

This technique is a close relative of wood marquetry.
In the 17th century Marquetry inlayers used it, giving birth to a very rich handicraft, especially in France. Straw marquetry got back in fashion during the Art Deco period, when the most prestigious decorators returned this art to its former glory.

This technique is used to create unique pieces, producing a wonderful “chiaroscuro” game. It is very rare, and in Italy it is not common at all. To achieve good results, “Marqueterie de Paille” needs patience and dedication.

The Straw

Natural straw has only the characteristic straw color. The straw strands we use are soaked with coloured vegetable oils to obtain a wide variety of bright and vivid colors, that give brightness to the product.

Soaking and cutting

The straw reed, after being colored and dried, is wetted again in warm or hot water to be softened. Then, it is engraved by the craftsman along its entire length, and spread out on the work surface.

Gluing and positioning

The cutted reed is spread on the table through a bone paper folder, which is repeatedly passed over its surface. It, thus, becomes perfectly smooth and shiny, ready to be used.

Final result

The result is a brilliant, glossy and naturally waterproof finish. The finish is applicable only on flat surfaces (panels or portions of them). The result is a product of extreme value, one of a kind and highly customizable.

Colors

The available colors aren’t exclusively those chosen for our samples. There’s a great veriety of color shades, provided by the supplier, which results from the dye applied to the natural straw. The availability of colors, therefore, depends from what is provided by the supplier dyes the straw canes.