Knotty but nice: why burl wood furniture is having a moment

Times

2 days ago

Behold the burl wood renaissance! The chicest interiors schemes in high-end homes are increasingly embracing this distinct type of wood as a luxurious design accent.
An oak burl coffee table by RH takes pride of place in a reception room at Hollywood actress Emma Roberts's Los Angeles pad, while Queer Eye's Tan France has two burl pieces greeting guests in the entrance hall of his home in Salt Lake City, Utah: a two-door dresser and double-drawer console.
Burl wood has an intricate, galaxy-like grain with a curious creation story: the knotty irregularities are often a result of a bulbous growth deformity — a burl — on trees as a result of stress, infection or injury.
The interior designer Tatjana von Stein describes burl wood as a 'conceptual juxtaposition', as the material has 'historically been considered a noble wood but is actually cut from the disease of a tree'. Burls affect many tree species whether walnut, oak, maple, birch or cherry.
At 1stDibs, the furniture and fashion resale site, searches for burl wood have risen by 205 per cent during the first quarter of 2025, compared with the same period last year, with the most sought-after types of burl furniture being coffee tables, consoles and credenzas or sideboards, with walnut pieces in particular ranking top for desirability.
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The wild, abstract grain makes a striking alternative to regular wood. However, its individuality commands a hefty price tag — walnut burl wood is offered as a custom option for Bentley interiors, for instance.
As well as its A-list fans, upmarket interior designers have fallen under burl's spell: from Victoria Beckham's designer Rose Uniacke to Eyeswoon's Athena Calderone (who used burl heavily throughout her recent furniture collection for Crate and Barrel). A townhouse at the luxe London development Chelsea Barracks features a bespoke walnut burl headboard designed by Edo Mapelli Mozzi, the chief executive of Banda and husband of Princess Beatrice.
'While burl wood has long been prized for its interesting grain patterns and was quite popular in the 17th and 18th centuries — when it was used with similarly interesting decorative veneer types such as crotch walnut, oyster veneer and feather banding — collectors today are most interested in modern examples, and more than 85 per cent of listings on 1stDibs for burl furniture are from the 20th and 21st centuries,' explains Anthony Barzilay Freund, the editorial director at 1stDibs. 'Within that period, [burl] is probably most closely associated with 1970s design, as well as the work of Milo Baughman, who often used olive burl in his designs.'
Over in Utah, Emily Thurman (of the design practice Emily Thurman Studio) was an early collector of Baughman's work, before his designs began trending in recent years. 'Baughman had strong ties to Utah, which allowed me to purchase some of his originals from his family members here in Salt Lake City,' she says. 'He was a pioneer for modern bookmatched burl veneer pieces in the 1960s and 1970s with his well-known collaboration with Thayer Coggin. Shortly after, brands like RH [formerly Restoration Hardware], Lulu and Georgia, and CB2 started to mass produce and license their own versions of his work and I really saw the trend take off. This got me very excited to see the love for burl shared in the design community.'
Vinterior, the second-hand online furniture platform, is also reporting a 22 per cent increase in burl wood furniture sales compared with last year, but beyond the growing appetite for authentic vintage and antique burl wood pieces, modern-day design brands have been responding by launching their own iterations. Soho Home's spring-summer 2025 furniture drop includes a 15-piece burl wood collection, from its bathroom-friendly Garbo double vanity unit — a pair of fluted golden dolomite marble sinks atop a light mappa (European black poplar) burl veneer cabinet (£5,995, sohohome.com) — to a console table combining scalloped olive ash burl and dark emperador marble (£2,995, sohohome.com).
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Part of the reason for its soaring popularity is down to the fact that you can add a splash of burl into most interiors schemes — whether classic or contemporary, as Candy Murray, the interior design manager at Soho Home, explains: 'Burl is such a versatile material to use due to the variety of natural textures and colours available. Its adaptability is why we've added 15 new products across all categories to our spring-summer 2025 range. The natural wood grain pattern adds depth within an interior and creates a statement when paired with quieter materials.'
Kevin Frankental, creative director of the furniture brand Lemon, notes that working with burl 'involves a significant handmade process, making it the antithesis of mass production when done properly. At Lemon, we design with a deep respect for history while maintaining a modern approach. Nostalgia is a central theme in our work, and burl wood carries a certain romance. It transforms simple forms into something sculptural and intriguing.'
At Glassette — the curated online homeware marketplace co-founded by 'London's coolest millennial' Laura Jackson — burl furniture from Meola Interiors will shortly be added to the roster of brands (a coffee table costs £1,610, meolainteriors.com). Meanwhile Collection Seven, Jess Hubner's made-to-order British furnishing brand, reports sales of burl wood furniture have gone up by 420 per cent in the past three months and, on the high street, H&M Home stocks a poplar burr wood veneer side table (£119, hm.com) while West Elm has several burl options on sale: a six-drawer desk (£798.95, westelm.co.uk) and wooden trays (from £15.20, westelm.co.uk).
George Silcock, an associate at the Cambridge auction house Cheffins, notes: 'Burl wood furniture is making a comeback, and this was evident at the Decorative Fair this year where it featured heavily on the stands of some of the UK's best-known interior designers. We have seen at auction that there's been a tangible increase in interest from antiques dealers in burl wood, whether that be triform tables, picture frames, boxes, bedside cabinets or bookcases.
'It has now really exploded onto the interior design scene. As always, fashions in the interior design world which hit the high street always have an impact on auction room prices. And this has certainly been the case at Cheffins, where I have seen a number of our regular antiques dealers or private collectors particularly on the lookout for burr wood pieces, ideally in walnut or maple.
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'In antique terms, burl wood is commonly seen in provincial school furniture from the 19th century, and its unusual markings can make simple designs really stand out. However, there was also an increase in the use of burl in the art deco period when it was used by makers such as Heal's to create bookcases or occasional tables — this year Cheffins sold a 1930s Heal's walnut burl bookcase for £1,800, against an estimate of £500 — and again in the 1960s and 1970s. As modern-day tastes shift further away from mass-produced, Identikit items, burl wood is the epitome of individuality. Every piece is different and that originality is really what buyers are looking for today.'