Maple burl
Tight, swirling eyes; takes dye beautifully
Materials
Material with a past
The material is half of every piece. These are the families William works with, from orchard burl to iron that fell from the sky.
Materials
From the forest floor to the stars
Five levels of material, from figured domestic burl to meteorite. Every tier is chosen with you; legality and sourcing are checked before a single blank is cut.
Domestic burls & figured woods
Maple burl · Buckeye burl · Black walnut · Spalted maple
Warm, figured and full of character.
Exotic hardwoods
Ebony · Ziricote · Bocote · Amboyna burl
Dense, rare grain from around the world, sourced legally.
Hybrid burl & resin
Stabilized burl · Cholla cactus · Pinecone · Hand-poured resin
Burl and resin cast together, then turned to reveal both.
Signature materials
Meteorite inlay · Ancient kauri · Mokume-gane
The rarest work in the gallery.
Your heirloom timber
Wood from a family home · A fallen tree · A piece of old furniture
The most meaningful material is often already yours.
Family 1
Burls
Buckeye burl
Pale with dark spalting, often cast in resin
Amboyna burl
Rich red-gold curl from Southeast Asia
Thuya burl
Dense, aromatic, full of tiny eyes
Redwood lace burl
Lacework figure, light and lively
Black ash burl
Dramatic dark figure, superb for hybrids
Family 2
Exotic hardwoods
Ebony
Near black, glass smooth, endlessly formal
Ziricote
Spider-web figure in chocolate and black
Bocote
Gold with bold black striping
Hawaiian koa
Chatoyant curl that moves under light
Desert ironwood
One of the densest woods on earth
Purpleheart
Turns deep violet with age
Family 3
Cast & natural oddities
Cholla cactus
The lattice skeleton a desert cactus leaves behind
Pinecone
Sliced and suspended to show its spiral
Hand-poured resin
Mixed, coloured and cast in the studio
Stabilized burl
Vacuum-impregnated so it lasts a lifetime
Family 4
Signature materials
Meteorite inlay
Iron from space, etched to reveal its crystal pattern
Ancient kauri
New Zealand timber buried for tens of thousands of years
Mokume-gane
Layered metals folded like Damascus steel
Sourcing
Rare, never reckless
Some of the most beautiful woods in the world are protected. Rosewoods in the Dalbergia family, cocobolo among them, are regulated under international trade rules, and US law requires imported wood to be legally harvested.
William checks the sourcing of every rare blank before it is offered, and will suggest a beautiful legal alternative whenever a material is restricted. Your own heirloom timber is always welcome.
The design concierge
A gallery that listens
Talk with the DeVito Gallery concierge, an AI that speaks in William's own voice. It asks the questions he would ask, then hands him your brief.
- Who the piece is for, and the moment it marks
- What they love: writing, cooking, the shave, the pipe, the craft
- The woods, colours and finishes you are drawn to
- The budget you have in mind, never a hard sell
You will see what it can and cannot do before the microphone turns on. Conversations are recorded so William can follow up.
Commissions
Begin a commission
Tell William who it is for, what they love, and what you have in mind. He reads every brief himself and replies personally.
Prefer to talk it through?