Reihax product
Fracture
Fracture shows a moment that does not really stand still: a surface shattering. From a point of impact, shards of four woods run outwards, separated by deep black crack lines. What looks like breakage is the opposite: every edge planned, every shard cut and fitted on its own.
Photo: Reihax
What Fracture is
Fracture is a square wall piece of 40 × 40 cm (about 16 × 16 in) in intarsia, set in a dark frame. The motif is a star of cracks, the kind a stone leaves in a pane of glass: a point of impact near the middle, from which crack lines run to every edge and divide the surface into shards.
Each of these shards is its own piece of veneer in one of four woods. All the pieces are fitted edge to edge and pressed onto a substrate. Between them run deep black lines that draw the picture like the leads of a stained-glass window. Fracture carries the number 1 and is sold only once.
The motif: energy from straight edges
A crack is really an accident. Fracture turns it into a composition. All the lines are straight, but none runs parallel to the next; the shards get smaller and sharper towards the centre and wider towards the edges. That gives the sense of movement, as if the crack were spreading at the very moment you look.
This is the geometric side of Reihax, but not a strict one: there is no grid, no repetition and no symmetry. The order lies in how light and dark are spread: light shards of oak and ash alternate with warm walnut and dark wenge, so that the light is spread over the whole surface. How to plan distributions like this is described in planning geometric patterns.
Photo: Reihax
Four woods and their roles
Fracture is laid from the same four woods as Flow, each with a clear task:
- Walnut carries the largest dark areas. Its warm red-brown with a lively figure gives the picture warmth.
- Wenge sets the deepest dark, above all in the sharp shards near the centre, where the crack is most violent.
- Oak and ash give the light shards, which fall like light through the breaks.
The grain plays its part too: in many shards it runs along their length, and so from the centre outwards. The crack is not only in the lines but in the wood itself. One of the light oak shards has a small knot; it stays visible because it is sound and does not disturb the form.
Photo: Reihax
The black crack lines
Without the black lines, Fracture would be a mosaic of wooden areas. With them it becomes a crack. The lines separate every shard from its neighbours, even where two woods of similar lightness meet, and they give the picture a graphic sharpness that you notice first from a distance.
In craft terms these lines are unforgiving. With an invisible joint between two veneers, the eye forgives small deviations; a black line, by contrast, shows every kink and every change in its width. So the edges of the shards have to be cut straight and clean (cutting and fitting veneer), and assembling the many sharp pieces takes patience (assembling an intarsia).
Photo: Reihax
How to recognise this quality when you look at an intarsia picture up close is described in checking the quality of an intarsia.
Fracture and Flow: two languages of form
Fracture and Flow are siblings. Both measure 40 × 40 cm, both are laid from wenge, oak, ash and walnut, and Fracture and Flow No. 1 hang in a similar dark frame. The difference lies in the form alone: soft curves moving calmly across the surface, against straight edges breaking out of a single point.
Photo: Reihax
Hung side by side, the two pictures show how strongly form decides the effect of a material. The same woods look relaxed in Flow and charged in Fracture. Anyone designing intarsia can take a lesson from that: choose the form first, then cast the woods in their roles. There is more on the project page intarsia wall pieces.
Frame, hanging and care
Fracture sits in a dark frame with a narrow shadow gap between picture and frame. The frame picks up the dark of the wenge shards and closes the picture calmly.
Photo: Reihax
Like any wooden picture, Fracture is best hung on a wall without direct sun and not right above a radiator. A dry, soft cloth or a dusting brush is all the care it needs; cleaning products do not belong on the surface. There is more in caring for handmade wooden objects.
Where to buy it
Fracture is available through CherryCut, where you will find the price, availability and shipping. Because the picture is sold only once, it is no longer available after that.
Further reading
Fracture brings together geometric planning, four woods and precise fitting:
- Symmetry and mirroring
- Project page: intarsia wall pieces
- Flow: the same woods in flowing form
- Planning geometric patterns
- Contrast and colour temperature
- Grain direction in intarsia
- Walnut
- Wenge
- Oak
- Ash
- Cutting and fitting veneer
- Assembling an intarsia
- Checking the quality of an intarsia
- Finishes for wood art
- Caring for handmade wooden objects
- All Reihax products
Frequently asked questions
Which woods are in Fracture?
Walnut, wenge, oak and ash, the same four woods as in Flow. Walnut gives the warm, red-brown shards, wenge the darkest, oak and ash the light ones. No area is stained, painted or printed.
Is the picture really cracked?
No. Fracture depicts a crack; it is not damaged. Every shard is its own piece of veneer, cut and fitted to its neighbours. The surface is flat and sanded throughout; you cannot feel a crack with your hand.
How is Fracture different from Flow?
Both wall pieces have the same format and the same four woods, and Fracture, like Flow No. 1, sits in a dark frame. Flow works with soft, flowing bands, Fracture with straight broken edges radiating from a centre. They are two languages of form in the same material: calm and movement in Flow, tension and energy in Fracture.
How big is Fracture and how do I look after it?
Fracture measures 40 × 40 cm (about 16 × 16 in) and sits in a dark frame. Dusting it dry is all the care it needs. A wall without direct sun and not above a radiator is kind to the wood, because strong light changes the woods differently.