Custom Door From Bali

I don’t know an architect that doesn’t take real pleasure in designing features of a structure. Doorknobs, furniture, hardware, or doors. So on one of my favorite recent projects, I had the opportunity to design a door and have it made. The Mediterranean/ Spanish revival style called for a door that felt secure and had some presence. Our firm has connections in Bali, so I explored what the wood crafting artisans near Ubud could provide. Here are a couple shots of the door after it was made and still in Bali. It’s made of a sustainably harvested Merbau wood, which is stronger than teak.  I’ll see how I can post more images of the overall project. You can see more great projects I’ve designed and others I’ve worked on at  Wagstaff Architects

Custom Door From Bali
Custom Door from Bali

As far as designing the door, Bali Doors and Gates has both standard designs and accepts custom designs (in metric).  Frankly I just combined a couple common designs out there and made it into something I like, it’s not outrageously original, but what is? Since it worked so well, I consented to letting them use the design. Considering the enforceability of copyrights overseas, it’s better just to make good relationships.

It’s really not too hard to arrange imports from southeast Asian countries.  I had a good experience using a recommended expediter to handle the shipment once it got to the United States (Port of Oakland). Additionally there are several really good companies in Bali that all use the same shipping company to collect together goods and save on how they use containers. Not only that, Toya and his crew did a great job of packing it all. Just remember, the humidity there is much higher, so make sure to let it acclimatize once it gets to the project site, so that if you need to do some adjusting or shaping, then it’s not too difficult.

Sculpture: The bummer with some wood sculpture from the tropics is that, depending on the thickness and scupture method, the wood will crack in our low humidity, so just realize that they’ll may have a little more ‘personality’ a while after arrival. Thankfully the doors don’t tend to do that.


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