Humans have been obsessed with making everything perfect and smooth. We always try to remove the imperfections from what we do. For instance, when it comes to timber and wood, we used to only select wood that was perfect and untouched by any imperfections. If we saw anything strange, such as a knot in a piece of wood or a split or even a discolouration, then we would throw it away onto the discard pile and never use it.
Now though, things have changed. Lately, we have seen a rebellion among designers and homebuyers alike. We no longer want perfect and smooth; we now want our things to be flawed and imperfect. We call this rebellion “Honest Imperfection”. Instead of taking a room and trying to fit perfect and beautiful things into it, we now make rooms for the flaws in which we own. The leading cause of this is character-graded timber and live-edge slabs.
Character-grade timber is not as perfect or as fine as “prime graded” timber. Prime graded timber, in essence, is the perfect looking timber. It is smooth and well-defined without any cracks or scratches, very much like a supermodel. On the other hand, the opposite of prime graded wood is character grade. Character graded is like the adventurer’s version of prime wood. The character graded one is scarred up, it has swirls and ridges, small imperfections and random marks scattered through it. They have swirling grain anomalies and mineral streaks as well as some marks named like knots and branches. For Timber Merchants Bournemouth, consider https://www.timbco.co.uk/timber-merchants-bournemouth/
Another very cool way to add character and personality to a home or room is by using live-edge timbers. Live-edge is literally exactly what it says it is. It is timber that has the edge of a real life tree trunk instead of perfecting it by cutting it off and making a sharp angle. Live-edge does the complete opposite. Instead of having perfectly square 90-degree angles, live-edge incorporates all the twists and turns of the natural tree line, so showing its beauty and character as being completely unique and one of a kind because it does not look like a factory-manufactured version.
Honest imperfection gets rid of so much stress that most people have about certain items. Imagine a beautiful, brand-new coffee table that looks very expensive. Most homeowners who have kids or even pets would cringe every time that they see one spill something on the table or one of their children drop a toy on the surface. The reason why is because the table is so clean and fresh and is very easily damaged. With a piece of furniture that already has some things wrong with it, if someone accidentally drops something on top of it, then it would just add to the story of your table.