Ormonde Marquetry Walnut Sideboard | Classical French Carved Gilt Dresser and TV Media Console for Luxury Interiors - EKAR FURNITURE
A long, low chest has to work harder than most pieces in a house, since it is asked to hold things, carry a television, and still look like furniture, and the Ormonde Marquetry Walnut Sideboard by EKAR FURNITURE is designed for that double role. It is a classical French sideboard built as a wide, ground-hugging body on a carved and gilded base, the front laid out in warm walnut and figured walnut-burl veneers, the ends and centre picked out with fine marquetry inlay, and the whole carcase framed in shaped gilt mouldings at top, bottom, and at each end. The effect is warm and rich rather than bright, since most of the surface is wood and the gold is used to draw the outline. We build it as a bespoke custom furniture piece in our Foshan furniture factory, as a dresser, a bedroom chest, or a media console.
The surfaces are where the piece earns its keep. The two large end panels are veneered in a deep, figured walnut-burl, its grain mirrored left to right so the pattern opens out from the centre like a book, and set into each panel is an oval marquetry medallion worked in a lighter golden wood, a detailed floral basket motif cut and assembled by hand. Above and below each oval sits a stylised fleur-de-lys inlay, so the medallion is held within a clear vertical axis, and thin banding frames the whole panel. The central drawer fronts carry the same mirrored burl figure across their faces, so the grain runs continuously from one side of the piece to the other rather than stopping at each drawer line. This is veneer work done properly, matching the figure between panels before anything is cut, and it is what makes the front of the sideboard read as a single decorated surface.
Behind the fronts, the piece is laid out as a proper storage chest. A shallow frieze drawer runs along the top, its face carved and gilded and finished with small shaped key escutcheons, the natural place for the small things you want within reach. Below it, the central stack of graduated drawers is deepened toward the base, so folded clothes and linen sit low and heavier items stay near the floor, and each front is fitted with a pair of cast brass drop handles that take the weight comfortably. The two end sections enclose roomier fitted interiors for larger items, and where the piece is ordered as a media console we arrange those interiors for equipment instead, with shelves positioned to your hardware, ventilated backs, and discreet cable routing cut through the carcase so nothing shows at the wall. Joinery is solid, drawer boxes are fitted smooth, and the whole body is braced to stay square.
The gilt frame gives the Ormonde its formal edge. Fluted pilasters, carved and gilded, close each end of the body and carry the eye up to a shaped top moulding with a soft, swelled line and detailed corners, so the top reads as a frame laid over the veneers rather than a plain slab. Below, the base rail runs in a broad, carved band, its lower edge cut in a gently scalloped curve that lifts at the centre and settles into carved, gilded feet at either end, which raises the heavy body just enough to keep it from looking blocky. On the floor this makes the piece read long and low but still light at the base. As export furniture, the top, mouldings, and feet are secured and packed to travel without damage, and the finish is cured in-house to hold through shipping and installation.
In the room, the Ormonde works as a bedroom dresser against a wall, carrying jewellery boxes, fragrance, and a small tray, as a lounge media console beneath a screen, or as a sideboard in a dining room where it holds linen and glassware. Its warm walnut and gold palette sits comfortably with damask and velvet upholstery, crystal lighting, marble tops, cream and sage walls, and parquet or stone floors, and its low proportion means it never dominates a room the way a tall wardrobe does. This kind of dual-purpose classical storage is in steady demand in the India import furniture market, where buyers in Mumbai and New Delhi specify long marquetry sideboards for villa bedrooms, lounge walls, and hotel suites, where the same piece must hold a household's things and carry a screen without looking like a stand.
