Welcome to the Orlické Mountains.
To our table
Our furniture comes from the trees that grow in the forests of the Eagle Mountains. On those hills where our children learn to ski. Here our experiences and craftsmanship grow stronger in the same way as the trees. We pick them one after another and turn them into tables and chairs, which pay tribute to the family craftsmanship. For four generations.
Tradition. Tenacity. And an endless inquisitiveness you'll understand when you turn one of our chairs upside down.
That's where you'll find it—our eye for detail. Perfectly smooth joints. Strength you can feel. A sturdiness, that somehow still carries a sense of lightness. This is the legacy of nearly a century of family craftsmanship.
We build our furniture in one of the most remote corners of the Orlické Mountains—a place that disappears into autumn mist and never really lets you go.
This is where our family lives. Not by choice, but by decision. To be rooted and curious all at once.
How far can a family craft take you, if you give it everything? To the table. One that's with you every day—and for a lifetime. Pull up a chair.
300 years
to make a table
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- 1/7
- Tree felling
Few trees are fit to become a table
Crafting a truly solid table begins with selecting the right tree. We’re in the forest during the felling, overseeing how the logs and planks are handled—because wood holds tension, and poor handling can cause irreversible internal damage.
We sort and assess every trunk on site. Even then, we already know what each tree is destined to become. Our beech comes from the hills that surround us. For oak, we work directly with forest owners in the Polabí region.
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- 2/7
- Drying
3 years of drying
The sawn boards and thick planks are stored in covered sheds, where the wood air-dries for up to three years—slowly, outdoors, without shock—in the open mountain air of the Eagle Mountains.
After one to two years, it’s kiln-dried in condensation chambers heated by the wood waste from our own production.
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- 3/7
- Wood selection
Each part comes from a different part of the tree
Once dry, we shorten the planks and trace with templates for cutting individual shapes. It’s essential to avoid flaws and defects in the wood, while minimising waste.
Finding the right spot on each plank for every furniture part is something only years of experience can teach—experience that gives our furniture its character and essential qualities.
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- 4/7
- Shaping
Shaping form and character
Every piece of a chair or table begins by being cut from a thick plank into its shape on a bandsaw, then moves to CNC milling for fine-tuning. This is how we create bold forms that echo lightness and strength found only in nature.
Behind each table or chair design lies a full year of development. An invisible process that allows our furniture to balance lightness with strength, tension with stability. For six months, Pavel Kaplan works with designers to create the final prototype. Then, six months lasts teaching the CNC machine to replicate the vision. Only then can we begin crafting furniture made to serve for generations.
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- 5/7
- Joinery & gluing
10 minutes for a joint that lasts a century
Our chairs owe their strength to traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery, secured with glue. This time-honoured method creates exceptionally durable and permanent connections—completely without metal parts. We’ve used this technique for decades, and it holds as firmly today as it did then.
Every piece is delivered fully assembled. Nothing to tighten, nothing to loosen. Its strength is made to last forever.
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- 6/7
- Hand sanding
The final word belongs to hands
Machines work with precision down to a tenth of a millimetre, but only human hands give each piece its unique soul. During final sanding, it’s the eye and the touch that matter most. Every pass of the hand must be felt. That’s how true value is created.
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- Surface treatment
For the next years of life
The final step in Kaplan furniture making is finishing — either with lacquer or natural oil. This layer defines both the durability and the tactile qualities of the surface. A matte lacquer provides durable protection. Oil on chairs and tables, on the other hand, brings out the scent and soul of the wood.
We tailor the finish to highlight what matters most to you. And so, the second life of century-old oak can begin.
