I had the chance to go to Paris and study traditional marquetry technique. One thing i was particularly interested in was making duplicate motifs. Some of the great French cabinetmakers used this technique to cover large surface areas. There is a tools that was used called the chevalet. The chevalet allowed packets of veneers to be cut accurately producing exactly the same shapes.
When I got home I built a chevalet and started deigning work that would exploit this opportunity. The Fishscale chest of Drawers was one of those pieces.
The woods used are white oak and white ash. They have similar grain, but different tones. To add another “dimension” to the pattern I had half the pieces grain run horizontally and half vertically. They were all assembled in a chevron design. I had a metalsmithing friend fabricate pulls in the same shape.