Building an Art Deco Chest with Colored Rye Straw Marquetry

Over the past months, I’ve had the privilege of creating a commission that brought together history, craft, and quiet resilience: an Art Deco–inspired chest, entirely covered with colored rye straw marquetry. This piece is the result of patient work with humble materials, transformed into a surface of luminous depth.

A Craft with a Shimmering History

Straw marquetry: a centuries-old craft, reborn in contemporary design.

Straw marquetry is a centuries-old decorative art that found favor in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, and later reached new heights in the Art Deco era. Designers of the time (like Jean Michel Frank or André Groult) were drawn to its ability to reflect light with a soft, silken glow, a quality unlike any other surface treatment.

Once split and burnished, rye straw reveals a sheen that shifts with every change of perspective. In the hands of the great Parisian ateliers, it became a hallmark of refined furniture and interiors. Today, it remains a rare craft, valued by those who seek one-of-a-kind pieces for distinguished interiors.

The Language of Light

From simple stalks to luminous sheets: the preparation of rye straw.

The creation of this bespoke chest required months of meticulous handwork. Each stalk of rye straw was split, soaked, and flattened before being cut and applied piece by piece in geometric patterns characteristic of Art Deco design. While my client had a clear vision for the overall design and requested a classic sunburst pattern, iconic of Art Deco, I suggested enhancing it with a subtle three-dimensional detail at the bottom, adding depth and gently guiding the eye across the surface. I drew inspiration from the work of Lison de Caunes, who reimagined the classic 18th-century cube sans fond parquetry, expanding the language of cubes into new visual illusions.

 Each panel built strip by strip: a work of patience.

The process is slow and meditative: hundreds of narrow strips are placed side by side, their seams aligned so precisely that they almost disappear. For this chest, I combined the natural golden tones of straw with carefully dyed colors, creating subtle rhythms and contrasts. The finished surface changes with the light, shimmering like silk, a quality that makes straw marquetry furniture so prized by designers and collectors alike.

Continuity in Uncertain Times

This chest also carries within it the interruptions of war. When sirens sounded, work in the studio came to a halt. Yet I carried bundles of straw to the shelter, where I continued the quiet task of flattening stalks.

That repetitive, simple act became a way to find peace of mind in uncertain hours.

Later, when I returned to the workshop, those prepared strips were waiting, a thread of continuity that carried the project forward despite the pauses.

A Chest of Light and Resilience

Now complete, the chest stands as more than a functional object. Its surface glows with the distinctive radiance of straw marquetry, a reflection of both Art Deco elegance and the quiet endurance that shaped its making.

For architects, interior designers, and collectors seeking unique handmade furniture, straw marquetry offers something rare: a material that transforms light, a craft with centuries of history, and a result that cannot be replicated by machine.