History Behind Floral and Grape Corbels and Carvings

Grape motifs carved on corbels have been around since the Roman and Greek times. Grapes themselves have great powers such as unclogging arteries. The “French Paradox” shows that even though the French food is so high in fat, the wine that is consumed along the side of the meal, neutralizing the cholesterol in a way, ensuring a longer life.

Bacchus to the Romans and Dionysus to the Greek, the God of wine was viewed as the promoter of civilization and a lawgiver. He was a lover of peace and the patron deity of farming. No wonder the grape design was widely used in architectural ornamentation and has carried over to today corbels and wood carvings adornment. The first time that the grape carving appeared was in the Mediterranean era. It started out as smaller designs, but then throughout the ages, the grape carvings became more elaborate and more abundant.

Corbels with floral designs add a delicate touch to the room. Floral carving started out as early as the Pyu Era in the Second and the Third Myanmar Empires in before becoming one of the British colonies. The wood-carving art moved through the ages into the Konbaung dynasty becoming more intricate and exquisite. In the Amarapura times, people concentrated a lot on the carving of flowers in more detail (clumps and single), while in the Yadanabon twigs and leaves took center stage. Soon enough, all parts of the flowers were carved into a unique carving: the petals, the stems, and the leaves.

Floral carvings on the corbels and other architectural embellishments stood as a social status symbol in the Burmese culture. Carved flowers add a delicate touch to any environment, that is might be a reason why floral corbels are so popular. Flowers have an amazingly surprising impact on the brain. Flowers trigger happy emotions as soon as people come in contact with them. In Rutgers University study, an overwhelming number of people showed genuine signs of happiness in all age groups. When flowers are present in everyday life of a person they reportedly feel less anxious, less depressed, and more able to enjoy the quality of life. The presence of flowers enhances the person-to-person contact with family and friends.

According to the Greek myths the flower comes from a body of a dead nymph that was turned into a flower by the goddess Chloris. Once she was in the flower form, Aphrodite gave the flower her beauty, and Dionysus gave the flower the sweet scent. You are only a few clicks away from bringing home the delightful and relaxing flower motif with our decorative wood corbels.

The collection starts with the Nashville corbels and Modesto corbels. These hardwood corbels are explicitly engineered for countertop support. The Nashville corbels, as well as Modesto corbels both, have elegantly cutaway sides that add a great stylized look to any room. The open-side design of these corbels provides a light and airy look and at the same time gives necessary support to the kitchen counter.

While corbels act as strong support, the beautiful curves make it look effortless and decorative. Mentioned corbels are available in two sizes. The large size of these corbels will be able to support a countertop with an overhang of 14-18 inches. The smaller corbels are designed for countertops that have 7-13 inch overhangs.

The Tennessee wood corbels and the Sonoma grape corbels are incredibly versatile in their application options. The large and medium corbel sizes are great for kitchen counter support as well as under kitchen hoods; they work wonderfully with overhangs of 6-15 inches. The extra-small and the small corbels are perfect for accents on the custom cabinets. Smaller corbels add some support for delicate details and act as an elegant architectural adornment. The Tennessee corbels and the Sonoma corbels have beautiful embellishments on the face of the corbel as well as the sides.

The extra large Tennessee corbels and large Sonoma corbels are perfect for kitchen islands. Large corbels offer fantastic support, and when strategically placed on all of the four corners of the kitchen island, they become a focal point of the kitchen design, setting the tone for the decorating theme. Usually located right in the middle of the kitchen, the kitchen island tends to be a special place. Kitchen islands are designed to provide an extra cooking surface and often used for gathering, so it gives all the more reason to dress it up. If the overhang of the kitchen island’s countertop is greater than 18″ it is better to support it with kitchen island legs or corbels that are designed to serve as kitchen island legs – Philadelphia island-legs corbels and Napa island-legs corbels.

Other extra-large corbels from our collection can be used for this purpose. The Dallas corbels and Sacramento corbels can be used for kitchen islands as well; they will add dramatic detailing to the design, as well as attention in the right place of the kitchen.

The Monroe corbels add curves that are pleasant to the eye in any space. The corbels are versatile in their use. Large sizes of the Monroe corbels offer amazing and bold ornamentation and great support. The top and the bottom of the corbels are flat, so they can be used as a pilaster-topper. They are also wonderful corbels to use inside door openings, archways, and underneath kitchen hoods. The small sizes of the Monroe corbel are visually appealing and are irreplaceable for accents and adding detail to kitchen cabinets and other custom furniture pieces.

The Sanford corbels and Santa-Monica corbels have different designs: Sanford is adorned with, and the Santa-Monica features a grape design. The two corbel designs can be coordinated with bracket designs such as Nashville (flower motif) or Modesto (grape theme), making it a breeze to create a complete design. The Large Yale corbel is heavily embellished and is incredibly versatile. The sizes within that corbel differ dramatically; the smaller one is 6 lbs, while the larger one is 13.4 lbs. It is an important thing to keep in mind when selecting this corbel for a specific use. It is not only excellent support for countertops, but it is fantastic for entryways. With this selection of corbels, it is hardly possible to choose the wrong corbel.