In Santa Fe, the grey-to-black veining that might recede into shadow beneath coastal fog instead rises to the surface, drawn out by altitude and aridity until every dark streak reads like calligraphy against the golden-brown heartwood. Where Santa Cruz softened the contrast, this high-desert light sharpens it, demanding that each sheet of Black Limba earn its place on walls and ceilings built from adobe earth tones that already carry their own warmth. The sapwood's pale greyish-yellow margins, barely distinct from the heartwood in dimmer settings, here become visible transitions that designers must account for when booking sequences across a panel run. It is precisely this unforgiving transparency that makes Santa Fe a proving ground for veneer quality—and what awaits further south in Santa Rosa will test whether that quality holds when the light shifts once again toward the
