What?

Cross cultural creations

Belgian designers, Pieter Compernol and Stephanie Grusenmeyer teamed up with Italian and Thai Bronze Masters, with Asian designers who mastered in Europe, with a Belgian antiques restorer, Thai carpenters, Sino -Thai staff, a French Photographer, an Australian Webmaster and a Belgian Graphic Guru, all inspired by American Mentors, European Flair & Savoir Faire and boosted by Asian energy. We learn from them, they learn from us:
Cross Cultural Creations

Haute manufacture

Enjoy our Haute Manufacture Service and let us create your unique table.
Very Limited series indeed... Only 1!

Slow furniture

We make tables and we make them well 100% hand-made in Bronze and Reclaimed wood:
We need about 100 hours to create your table:
Slow furniture in hectic times

Why?

l'Art de vivre.

We make great tables you will love to use and abuse.
We love to cook, eat, drink and party. All big moments in life are celebrated around a table, the true centre of a home. Some, like Jack Nicholson in The Postman... or Pacino in Scarface, found other ways to enjoy one. Whichever your vice, chances are a table is near...
so why not get a nice one?
One your children will actually love to inherit.

We make furniture we would buy ourselves

If we didn't like our own creations why would you love them?
We just hate it when stuff brakes down the day you buy, only lasts a season,
or for which you need Einstein to figure out what goes where.

How?

We invented nothing new

We are experts in the age-old art of 'French polishing', follow 18th century French recipes to mix our waxes and oils, and import the best ingredients from France and Brazil*. An antiques restorer mentors our carpenters. Our 70-year old Italian bronze master excels in the same 5000-year old techniques people in the Bronze age used.

We use our hands, and we care

We bring quality through supreme Artsmanship and joined expertise, honouring and reviving ancient techniques. We use the best materials we can find and create with more than a little Mojo.

*('Brazilian wax...rings a bell?).

Where ?

Did we get the idea?

On a buying trip for a New York project we came across fantastic antique wooden boards in a tiny antique shop in a remote Asian Village...after a few weeks reflecting we decided to make tables...
and make them well.
Easy? It took four years till we felt ready to launch.

The inspiration

We use our eyes and ears and travelled a fair bit.
These 'Old Planks' were the perfect Muse:
we just added a pinch of Art Nouveau, a touch of Art Deco and obviously cherish our love for Bauhaus,
the modernists, the minimalists and...The Masters of Ming.

Who?

Is Ptendercool?

P. Tendercool is a fictional character.
We are no fans of the (ego)-Cult of Design(ers) and genuinely feel Design is a group effort of dedicated professionals who inspire each other: about one hundred people are involved with your table, each with their own specialty and skills. Design is a very important part of our work, but without Bronze Masters and Antiques-restorers, Woodcarvers and Carpenters, Model-makers, Polishers, Welders, Metalworkers, Patina specialists,.., our designs would be left to die on a piece of paper. Without Photographers, Graphic designers and Webmasters and a few memorable Mentors you would never have heard about us.
We didn't want our creations named after one person with Guru-like status.