beech wood
The oval hall of the Teylers Museum in Haarlem (The Netherlands) has 20 beautiful pear wood models of crystals on exhibition. In the period 1802-1804, the museum acquired over 600 wooden models to help determine the mineral samples in their collection. The wooden models were made to order by Rene Just Hauy and are known for their accurate proportions and angles. The French carpenters Pleuvin senior and junior and their apprentice Journy became real specialists during the production.
Rene Just Hauy (1743-1822) is founder of geometrical crystallography. It is said that he dropped a piece of mineral and, while he was cleaning up, he noticed the pieces showed very similar forms. He came up with an ingenious system of the crystal formation of minerals, constructed by standard particles he called molecules integrantes. In 1801 he published the Traite de Mineralogie, in which he described the construction and shape of 531 minerals, accompanied by a series of wooden models.
For this project, designer Christien Meindertsma selected 16 pear wood models that have been enlarged and made into a series of beech wood objects. Carpenters Jan Kuperus and Rienk Gardenier, who initiated this project, act as producer In addition to their ship’s carpentry and restoration work, they collaborated on Christien Meindertsma’s Flax-project (2009) and the Tree Track (2011).
Les Modeles Cristallographiques is made in a limited and numbered edition of 10 series
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