-By Danine Alati

Named The Dentro Collection because "dentro" means "inside" in Italian, S. Russell Groves' new furniture collection offers surprises on the inside. Pieces feature unexpected splashes of color on the interior of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood construction.

Known mainly for the design of sleek, high-style interiors for a host of office, retail, spa, salon, hospitality, and residential clients, S. Russell Groves created this second furniture collection as an environmentally sustainable solution for a project his New York-based design firm was completing. While designing the interiors for The Lucida, the first LEED-certified condominium building on Manhattan's Upper East Side, Groves could not find a modern, refined, green furniture collection to satisfy his needs. So he designed one himself.

Spawned by the success of Groves' Classic Collection, Dentro evolved out of the same vocabulary of clean geometry, raised to a higher-end level with use of green materials and added interest in the form of color. "I wanted to prove that you can achieve a high-end aesthetic through use of green materials," Groves says. "There's been a hole in the market for green furniture that feels luxurious. This line maintains our high caliber yet is also green."

The 11-piece, customizable collection, released late last year for the Lucida project, is handmade from FSC-certified oak, walnut, palm, and bamboo with low-emission sealants and lacquers, and details, such as cabinet pulls, from naturally harvested resources.

The highly sculptural Slice side table features a cut-out that reveals a custom, high-gloss, lacquer insert in a color that contrasts with the table's rich grain construction. Similarly, Slash is a round side table with a slash cut off the side to reveal contrasting lacquer.

All made of lush woods, an armoire trimmed in metal, a 7-ft.-long credenza with adjustable shelves, and stacking display cubes in three sizes reveal pops of color with customizable high-gloss lacquer interiors. Inlaid veneers are set in a contrasting-direction pattern in the Patchwork dining table, while the Jigsaw table comes in both dining and cocktail versions. The Essential Sofa Table, made of glass and premium patina brass, celebrates a mix of materials in an elegant and versatile piece that perfectly complements the Essential Sofa with its streamlined design accented by wood legs. The three-seat Tuxedo Sofa is fully customizable, tailored to each customer in the size and fabric of choice, and the wood-framed Curve Chair rounds out the collection—for now.

Groves plans to add to the line, but he introduced these pieces first as he thought these filled the void where he saw the most need. And with this initial launch, Groves succeeds in demonstrating that green can be luxurious. The Dentro collection seems to have it all—the look and performance in a refined green package with subtle surprises inside Circle No. 201