Light in weight and capable of being bent into elegant, curvilinear forms plywood has been in use in furniture making since the eighteenth century. The bending and molding of plywood exploit and enhance the very essence of the material bringing out grain, texture and natural imperfections simply and honestly.
Plywood production relies on two wordworking processes: veneering and cross-grain lamination. Veneering is the technique in which wood is sliced into thin sheets. This is a way to optimise rare woods and to give visual interest to the visual surface. Cross grain lamination employs veneers in an assembly, with the grain of each sheet running perpendicular to the one above and below it, and the sheets are bound together with glue. Cross-grained sheets of wood are extraordinarily strong and produce boards that exceed the dimensional limitations of natural wood.
Combined veneering and cross grain lamination transform natural wood into an engineered product that can perform in a way that natural woods cannot. - [Source - Bent Ply, The Art of Plywood Furniture, p 16 - p.17, Dung Ngo and Eric Pfeiffer]