Rowes Wharf Apartment

The Work

Bespoke marquetry panels at the heart of the joinery — Pommele Sapele, Satinwood, and mother of pearl

At Rowes Wharf in Boston, we were invited to work alongside New York-based interior designer Anthony Baratta on a waterfront apartment commission. Baratta's interiors are known for bold pattern, classical reference and a quality of presence that is both grand and personal. Our role was to produce the marquetry panels that would sit at the heart of the apartment's joinery and set the material register for the whole space.

Rowes Wharf is an iconic Boston address on the harbour. The apartment needed to belong to that setting — polished, considered, and with enough material depth to hold the room. Our marquetry was conceived not as decoration but as structural statement: panels with a jewellery-like quality that anchor the joinery and give it distinction.

The panels were crafted from Pommele Sapele and Satinwood veneer — two materials chosen for their contrasting tones and grain movement, each providing the counterpoint the other needs. Sustainably sourced mother of pearl from New Zealand was inlaid into the design, adding a third register: cool, iridescent, and behaving entirely differently from the veneers under different light conditions.

The Quatrefoil Motif

A quatrefoil in Pommele Sapele and Satinwood

At the core of the design is a quatrefoil motif — a classical shape recurring across historic architecture and decorative arts, and a natural fit for Baratta's practice of reimagining traditional references in a contemporary register. The pattern began as hand-drawn sketches, translated into vector files for precision and consistency, then transferred to aluminium sheet — a structural base chosen for its strength and dimensional stability under the demands of complex inlay work.

Laser-Cut Precision

Individual pieces, placed by hand

Production was a careful blend of advanced technology and hands-on craftsmanship. Each piece of Pommele Sapele, Satinwood veneer and mother of pearl was laser cut using state-of-the-art equipment to follow the complex curves of the quatrefoil pattern. But the true character of the panels comes from the hand assembly. Each tiny component was placed individually by our team, working methodically to bring the pattern to life. This process demands a deep understanding of how the materials behave, the way veneer responds to humidity, the brittleness of mother of pearl, the subtle variations in colour and grain that need to be balanced across the surface so the finished panel feels harmonious rather than busy.

A High-Gloss Finish

Mirror-like lacquer, amplifying depth and iridescence

Once fully assembled, the panels were lacquered with a high gloss finish, the lacquer amplifying the depth of the Pommele Sapele's figure and making the iridescence of the mother of pearl read across the room. The glossy surface catches reflections from the water and the room beyond, adding a sense of drama and movement that suits the waterfront setting. When complete, the marquetry panels were shipped to PGS Millwork, our trusted joinery partner, who integrated the panels into the wider joinery package within the apartment. Anthony Baratta's design language of pattern and presence is realised through the collaborative effort: his vision, our craft, the apartment's character.