Sourced in Kunming, shaped by hand
Sandry Law first saw the stack of elm planks in a Kunming timber yard in late 2023. The trees — North‑Chinese elm, yú mù — had been felled the previous spring in the hills above Dali, air‑dried for eighteen months under corrugated tin, the wood stable and quiet. Sandry ran a palm over the grain: tight, even, no checking. He knew the timber would suit a gongfu table, one that would hold heat without warping and take a subtle oil finish without turning glossy.
The commission went to a father‑and‑son workshop on the outskirts of Kunming. They milled the planks to length themselves, joined them with blind dovetails, and hand‑planed the surface until it felt like polished bone. The 140 cm length seats four comfortably, six if you tuck in close — enough room for a teapot, pitcher, cups, and a small water‑kettle at the far end.
The copper drain was cast by a metalworker in Zhenjiang; it sits flush in the centre, a quiet channel that catches every rinse and sends it through a removable bamboo filter into a ceramic basin below. The entire piece breaks down without tools: legs unscrew, the tray lifts free, the basin unhooks. It ships in a flat‑pack crate and reassembles in ten minutes.
Every table carries Sandry’s procurement tag — a small brass plate with the batch number, origin, and the name of the workshop. It’s not a mass‑produced item; each one is made to order, with a lead time of eight to twelve weeks.