In our first project in Singapore for some years, French Oak Australasia was commissioned by one of the top Singaporean Interior Design Firms, to work with them on sourcing and supplying genuine Antique and Recycled Feature Timber for a range of historically authentic and significant elements in this fabulous fit out at the Orchard Gateway Shopping Mall, in one of Singapore’s best urban redevelopments, Orchard Gateway #04-16.
French Oak Australasia supplied Antique French Oak Beams, sourced from an historic, 250+ year old granary in Southern France, which were used to create rustic shelving to display the beautiful leather shoes by Red Wing; Fully Recycled Spotted Gum plank flooring, from a shearing shed on the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia, and originally sourced in the late 1880s from Queensland, employed as the feature ceiling cladding; and Reclaimed American Oak flooring, first milled in 1904 in Wyoming, USA, and purchased by our American partners for this project, and worked hard on site to create the floor.
The Antique French Oak Beams formed part of a massive, 55m3 parcel we purchased in 2012. This Oak now adorns homes, offices, store fitouts, and company boardrooms in many and varied projects, from flooring and stair materials, to dining tables, bars, bench tops, (our own Showrooms!), feature and structural posts & beams, bathroom shelving, joinery pieces and furniture, Parquetry and cladding, and even wood chips for whiskey making, from Perth, to Singapore, to Melbourne, Auckland, Sydney, Gold Coast, Brisbane, and many points in between. We can supply your project too.
For Red Wing Singapore, the beams are as sourced – completely natural.
We actually found the Recycled Spotted Gum Shearing Shed Flooring through friends who work the land on the Yorke Peninsula. Over time, the oil from the wool at shearing time imparted into the timber and actually preserved it. The Client wanted a more rustic, worn look, so we turned the planks over and exposed the underside of over 100 Summers and Winters. The planks were then oiled with 2 coats of matte natural oil on site, after being installed into the ceiling.
Sourcing Reclaimed American Oak was new for French Oak Australasia, so we turned to our Montana Snow Fencing suppliers, and they pointed to a family-owned business in Wyoming, USA. 100m2 was needed, not terribly wide boards, only 140mm, but the brief was “as rustic as it came”, and once installed at Red Wing, was further distressed, then texturally softened with special processes, and finally smoked and oiled. The result is superb – and authentic.
This is a project that sought to create a true American Barn atmosphere, tracing the history and authenticity of Red Wing and its shoes, back to the very beginnings of boot manufacture and leather work by this great, great company. A proud history, with the life of this history breathing strong, deep and true at Red Wing’s Asian Flagship Store, in Orchard Gateway, Singapore.
This project offered something very special for our company; the chance to add real value, become the Client’s Trusted Adviser, and challenge our business. The Red Wing Store in Singapore is visually fantastic, we are very proud of the result, and humbled to be part of the Team that delivered it.
