WFOY Spotlight: Petal Picking

Jason Vivash’s Wood Floor of the Year began with the idea of displaying a live edge medallion for the centerpiece of his showroom’s floor. He had just opened a new section of his building and had a wide-open pallet to work with.

The result was a flower-shaped design featuring wood that he had been keeping to himself for a special occasion.

ā€œI was holding onto this special 1ā€ curly walnut live edge that I had found at my exotic wood supplier. I didnā€™t know what I would do with it, but I knew I had to have it,ā€ explains Vivash. ā€œI had five. To get enough yield to complete, I ripped the walnut in half on the band saw and laminated it to birch plywood.ā€

Vivash took the ripped pieces and flipped them over so he had a book-matched pattern, almost like a flower petal, keeping the beautiful live edge.

ā€œI couldnā€™t decide if it was a star or a flower, but I went with the idea that it was a flower. So, I now had eight petal points in the design, and the floor grew from there. I inlaid leopard wood in the center for contrast, which is one of my favorite woods,ā€ says Vivash. ā€œThen I carefully fein-tooled this design along the bark outer edge into the installed wood floor.ā€

Vivash then paused for several weeks, trying to determine what he would do for the center portion of the design.

ā€œI sat with the floor for weeks, trying to figure out how I was going to finish it. I wanted to animate a subtle petal design, so I CAD designed the holly petals with little wenge features to give the appearance of curves, cut on my CNC bed, then inlayed them into the design using the Shaper Origin,ā€ says Vivash. ā€œFor the center, I cut and book-matched a large walnut burl. This was another piece that I had purchased at my supplier, not knowing what I would do with it. It was so large I had to take my band saw apart so that I could slice it in half properly to book match it.ā€

Detail of Finish Process: ā€œIā€™m someone who loves to use a lot of different finishes. For this floor, the inlay and border were finished with a neutral oil, and the other areas were finished with a custom creamy/neutral mix, which gives an almost invisible finish that doesnā€™t yellow up with the whites and the browns,ā€ says Vivash.

Featured Category: Best in Circular/Curved Application

Category Details: Entries in this category include any hand-cut circular shape within a flooring system, such as circles, ovals, curves, or bent material.

Installation Type: Nail Down

Flooring Type: Engineers, Reclaimed, Plank, End Grain, Other

Flooring Finish: Vesting LED, Osmo, Ciranova

Flooring Sheen: Matte

Species: Curly Walnut, Walnut Burl, Leopard Wood, Holly, Wenge, White Oak, Figured Maple

Square Feet: 500

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