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The design of wood furniture brings character to the house or the office. At the same time, the personality of the house owner can be expressed through the design of the wood furniture. If the intended personality is a combination of artistry and rationalism, then the method to use in making wood designs is marquetry. In fact, some artists claim that only marquetry can create impressive designs on any kind of wood. Marquetry hails from the neoclassical period of French art. It rebels against the ornate and lavish decorations of baroque but still demanded high artistic skills in creating flawless designs. The general procedure of marquetry involves the cutting of pieces of veneers and then placing them on a wood medium, which is usually wood furniture. Veneers are thin slices of wood that could not be thicker than one-eighth of an inch. Veneers are used to construct the doors, sides, and tops of wood furniture, such as cabinets. However, marquetry is more complex than cutting and gluing veneers into wood. In fact, there are five different marquetry techniques. The first technique is called inlaying. The French called this technique as tarzia cerocina. It involves the creation of hollow spaces out of the wood furniture. This can be done by using the chisel. The hollow spaces are then filled with the pre-designed veneers. The effect of this technique is a craftsmanship that emanates sophistication. The second technique is called Tarzia geometrica. This technique mainly refers to the shape of the design materials placed on the wood furniture. The decoration echoes geometric shapes which are typical of the neoclassicism. The geometric designs on the wood exude forthrightness. In offices, this technique on wood furniture augments an atmosphere of professionalism. The third technique is called Tarzia a tappo. It refers to its function of adding decoration and character on the borders of wood furniture and even on wood floors. Some wood designers call it block marquetry because of the resulting appearance of tiers of blocks or bands. This marquetry technique can also be found in Swedish wood furniture designs but to a less flamboyant degree. The fourth technique is called Tarzia a incastro. It exploits the effect of having contrasting colors and shapes out of the veneers. Since this technique was well developed by the artist Andre Charles Boulle, some wood designers would call it the Boulle technique. This technique makes the creation of scenes from nature possible on the wood furniture. And the fifth technique simply bears the name the classical technique. But it is one of the most difficult ones that only the master wood designers can execute to perfection. The veneers are cut one piece at a time to ensure that these design pieces fit snugly together. This technique creates a foreground and a background of the design materials placed on the wood furniture. These five techniques are the basic ones. A wood furniture designer can invent new ones by combining any of the basic techniques. Aside from veneers, other design materials can be used on the wood furniture, such as shell, ivory, pearl, and stone. With marquetry, an almost unlimited vista of wood designs can be created. | 
