'cant' console table

As regular readers will know i use this blog to show my current designs and new ones and this is the first new design i have made for a while now, so i will run through the design and explain my thinking behind it. The console table is based on the popular 'cant' sidetable principle of having a cantilever surface protrude through and into a wooden frame arrangement. I knew this design would be quite adaptable so i started to play around with varying proportions for a hall/console table. the below photo shows the first mockup which gave me a good starting point in terms of what functional size i was looking for.

The next stage after deciding on the size was to source some appropriate wood. And by chance i had acquired some reclaimed sapele which proved perfect for the job, well seasoned, dead straight and having worked with sapele before i knew it would be a good wood to make this design out of. So the process began of cutting the wood down and preparing it to be made into the frame work. As i had made the sidetable in the same way i was confident i could make a solid frame based on that design. So the gluing and constructing of the frame did not take too long at all. The problem i had was coming up with a new way of fixing the table top into the frame work as i had had mixed results with the sidetable method of fixing and knew i had to find a more workable solution and after much sketching and experimenting i came up with the idea of concealing nuts and bolts within the frame work which would in turn hold the acrylic top in place, the next series of photos show the plugs i used to cover the holes up in the back strut of the table. But since completing this table i think I can improve this fixing system even more by changing a few elements and hence improving the overall look of the piece and eliminating the plugs i had to use to cover the holes.

once the fixing holes had been drilled (16 in total) i could glue the last sections of the frame together and begin the tricky task of routing out the slot to except the acrylic top, its always a nerve wrecking time as one slip can ruin the piece of the wood and as this wood was reclaimed i did not have anymore. panic over i secured the top into the frame and could finally see the finished design which is always an interesting time, wondering of you have done right with proportions and construction, but i was pleased but knew where i could improve for next time. I then oiled the frame with traditional Danish oil which has brought out the grain of the wood quite well and darkened it which has then contrasted well with the black acrylic. I tested the strength of the cantilever construction by placing a 2kg weight on the edge of the table surface which proved that the table was strong enough for daily use. As you can hopefully remember the original idea for the ‘cant’ series was to give the framework a functional element by allowing the user to customise the piece by draping magazines over the frame or clipping lights to it hence freeing the table top for more storage etc. one thing I have learnt is that I will probably spend a bit more time looking into the design of frameworks for future projects and try to understand the forces that will be exerted on that frame and improve the design overall, but also looking at the amount of wood I use and the way I use it. so an interesting experimental project awaits.

This design will now be listed on www.stylisticgallery.com to be bought and put on various portfolio sites and the process begins again as I have a new idea to take further and expand on which is always an intriguing time in the life of a new design.

good design hangs around

about time i put my thoughts and views down again on this blog and i wanted to start by rejoicing thefact that i ahve finally finished the 'cant' console table that took far too long to make, thats the trouble when you can not do something you love all day everyday, things take more time. photos will be up on here as soon as i can take them but for now you will have to believe me that the wood has come up beautifully (remember it was reclaimed sapele) and the new system i used to sercure the cantilever top to the frame works a treat. so this design will also be uploaded to my usual sites so that it can be bought and shown to a wider audience.

so thankfully my time can now be put towards my new project and making mockups of that before i decide on the final design, its always a fun part of the process seeing how far you can push an idea before you commit to the chosen wood, and i am hoping that this new design will lend itself to a line of furniture items just like the 'cant' series.

going slightly off track i saw a strange site the other day. i was walking down my local high street and saw one of those new volvo v40's, i have always been a fan of them and really like the new design style they have come up with but i was drawn to the inside of the car and while looking more closely i spotted the instrument pinacle. they were still the same round dials you get in any car but they had an lcd display inside each dial and then the hand that registers the speed followed around that on the perimeter, its hard to explain but google it and im sure youll find it, but i was shocked to see this design as it was very similar to an instrument design i came up with at university about 9 years ago. it was very pleasing to know that i had come up with a very similar idea all those years ago and see it on a very modern and stylish car all these years later. it proves that good design is timeless, it made my day.

anyway expect to see photos of the new console table on here very soon and some images of my new design in the mockup stage

good progress

It’s about time I posted another update about what has been happening and what I have done in my pursuit of producing some modern/minimalist furniture. I’m currently still making the console table based on the ‘cant’ side table series out of sapele. I have ordered the black acrylic top which will finish the piece so it’s just a case of finishing the wood, sanding and oiling it and then securing the top with a new system I have come up with which will hopefully provide a better cantilever solution. So that’s the main area of focus in trying to establish a collection of furniture that best shows off my design skills as well as my progression in making them and getting that quality and uniqueness. But as a lot of readers will know I don’t always concentrate on one project and I am now in the process of designing a new piece that has been in my sketchbooks for a while and having successfully found a piece of wood that will do it justice I can start making some mock-ups of the design and constructing it which for me is the best part.

  The wood I bought is called iroko, a wood I have not used before but the grain and straight ness appealed to me so I had to buy it, but I was worried when I read up about it on the internet and found out about the harmful effects of the dust it produces. Which I should have known about to be honest because all wood dust is dangerous but it certainly makes you think twice and realise that the simple (I call it simple) art of making furniture can be damaging to your health. (don’t tell my mum) so it is giving me a new found respect for the wood I buy and it will certainly make me use it differently now.

   But the problem comes in trying to find another piece of wood to compliment it (there’s a clue to the design) which I know will not be cheap and easy, maybe I should have pared down the first selection of wood but I have set myself a challenge and know the outcome will be worth it. So in my pursuit for a piece of wood I have discovered a new wood yard very local to me which I know will prove to a gold mine in the future and this just fuels my desire and creative ideas further, so I feel the summer months will be very experimental and hopefully profitable. 

  Apart from that, that’s all the making I am doing at the moment and so I continue to try and improve my photography skills to get some better shots of my designs for the various websites I am on.  I am still trying to find some local markets where I could sell my designs so if anyone knows of any that would be great but the slog continues promoting my designs but the passion is still there and that’s the important thing. When I see one piece of wood somewhere it does excite me (sounds weird) but that’s where the passion and creativity comes from, it’s very important.

slow start

Well this isn't the best start to 2012 and not the one i was planning. I was hoping to update this blog more frequently and get alot more work produced, but it is only febuary so i should not complain, but i have high expectations of myself so i need to get my act together and this new post is the start.

Since my last update i have started to make a console table based on the principles of the 'cant' sidetable. i am using reclaimed sapelle which is an exotic wood and hard to come by as well as being quite expensive so i am being very cautious as to how i use this wood and trying not to waste it. i dont think i am using the wood to the best of its ability though, due too the column legs this 'cant' design stipulates. compare this to the bedside table i made early last year out of the same wood and you can see where i am coming from. but the wood was free, seasoned well and does finish beautifully so the end result will hopefully meet my high expectations.

so i started with a mock up of the table before i cut or measured anything to make sure i was happy with the proportions and had enough sapelle wood to make it.

as i have always said this is one of the hardest parts in designing furniture as proportion is everything, it has to work for such a broad range of environments and users. but after much experimenting and playing with dimensions i decided on an overall size and i am now in the process of the cutting the wood and sanding off years of paint and varnish, then its a case of drilling the holes for the dowel pins and carfully constructing the sections and inserting the acrylic top which will be in black, a nice contrast with the dark brown of sapelle. i have also come up with a new way of securing the acrylic into the wood which will hopefully improve the overall strength, so im eager to get this part of the design made and test it out.

whilst i am making this table i am also playing with different designs for chopping boards! not something i want to be doing as i always have ideas for bigger and better things but i needed something to use up all my offcuts and thought this was a relatively easy way to do and it will hopefully push forward some asethetic direction in other designs for me. so expect some odd shaped slabs of wood to grace this blog soon but the shape will show a new direction and will lead to bigger things long term.

on a side note i was contacted by the very talented sebastian cox the other week who also designs and makes stunning furniture, be sure to look him up. he showed me some work that his old university tutor did a few years ago and it was uncanny how similar it was to some of my designs. my heart sort of skipped a beat at that point and made me realise how easy it is to accidently design something that resembles someone elses design. it has certainly made me more aware and has highlighted the need for me to take copyrighting more seriously, but also it made me feel quite proud that a distinguished lecturer had similar designs and ideas to mine, so i must be doing something right. it does make you think how difficult design is becoming now though and how original you have to be these days to stand out and be noticed.

i have finall taken some decent professional photos of my current designs which i ahve been meaning to do for ages now, i am very pleased with the results and finally do my designs justice, these now grace my shop pages on www.stylisticgallery.com and www.folksy.co.uk and will take more photos in the coming weeks of my other designs. its amazing what a few simple changes will make to a photo and hence a designs appeal. very pleasing

the quest continues to get my work in more galleries and shops and i have my eye on a few so i will be busily putting together a sort of press pack for these. And im shortly going to join the 'craft central' website so will have my designs displayed on there which will hopefully be an interesting outlet and give me some more profile in this very competive industry. and when that is all done and the console table is made i can buy some more wood (the stock level is low) and make something else to add to my portfolio! i dont seem to stop really.

new year

well all the hype over christmas and new year has died down and its time to update the blog and explain my plans for the beginning of 2012. To start off the plan is too continue making new designs and i have plans for two at the moment that will hopefully get finished by the end of febuary, they include a new idea on the sidetable (i seem to like sidetables) and a variation on the 'cant' sidetable design that im excited about and should look striking when finished. So i just need to find time to head down the wood yard and pick up some oak or chestnut for the new sidetable and i will use some sapelle wood i salvaged for the variation on the cant series. So for me its the most exciting time as im at my happiest when making my designs.
  The next thing i need to do is find some more galleries to showcase my work, so the old email will get a workout again as i trawl galleries and see if anyone is interested. also while im at it i will contact more online shops and companies and see if i can gain some interest. its a long process but has to be done, you never known.
  Also the photographing of my designs continues as i try and show my designs in a better light so to speak. i have a decent stock range so it makes sense to get some good images of my designs that i can use and promote myself with. Another area i want to look into is local fairs or markets that i could possibly sell my designs at. i dont know if their are many in norfolk or suffolk but it would be good to try my luck, does anyone know any? long shot i know.
  so basically its going to be busy busy busy really, just trying to get noticed and do what i love, also i need to try and advertise my commission side more i feel as i have done a small commission recently and its certainly a good way to get noticed and improve my skills, So maybe i need to advertise this area of my skillset and see what happens.
  Also im going to keep looking, trying new things and seeing as much as possible, its amazing where inspiration can come from, i bang on about inspiration alot but it really is everywhere and that is wondeful i think.

but the journey continues with renewed optimisim and i have a good feeling about this year. With lots more planned that i will detail later in the year.

oh and my new year resolution? to try and not get distracted by the internet so much.....

experiment project

Inprevious posts i said i would start to make a few experiment pieces to test out theories i had explored in various sketchbooks and scrap pieces of paper. And while making stock pieces and items for galleries i made a small prototype of an idea involving changing the structural framework of furntiure and seeing if this could produce different aesthetics based on structural requirements. The images below show what i created from scrap wood and dowels. I wanted to see if i could create strength and structure by using the void space of storage as the defining element instead of seperate pieces of wood braced across certain areas to provide the strength and support we see in modern manufactured pieces. By protruding the legs of this console table through the void/storage space and then fixing them halfway into the top section i created a new structural identity that did not require any other elements to produce a functional table/storage space. Further experimentation found that by increasing the depth of the void space the structural integrity of the concept was increased considerably. This might seem obvious to outsiders but to me this was very interesting and opened up a whole range of ideas based on this principle. the legs were painted to identify the main purpose and structural efficient areas of the legs. i also liked the idea that the legs were shown in the piece emphasising even more the importance and simplicity of this design. unknowingly i also discovered i was considerably limiting the amount of workmanship involved in ceating a modern piece of functional furniture was a worrying but enlightening discovery.

having produced this concept it has proved that this idea can work and now the challenge is too adapt it to work in a modern environment/home and transfer these principles into a workable, desirable item of furniture. expect some more experiment pieces in the new year.

catch up

 So I thought this post should really be a catch up and detail what I have been up to in terms of making and getting my designs out there as I have not been very regular with my posts of late. I finally dropped the two nest of tables off at the gallery in north Norfolk last weekend and I was really pleased with them, so they now join the mirrors being displayed, quite an achievement for me. However Im finding that all this negotiating and ringing and sorting does take time and that is one area im getting more and more experience in, be patient is the lesson.

  So my making time now is filled with continuing to get a stock level behind me, so I can take some proper photographs of my designs and have them ready to show potential customers etc. so I have some beautiful pieces of wood I can use up to make some more scape mirrors and hopefully a couple of tables. Also I have ordered some felt which I will apply to the back of the bare mirrors on my scape series which I feel will give them a more professional look and also a splash of colour.

  Also I am continuing to contact shops and galleries to see if they want to stock my work, this will always be an ongoing project so more on this in the future.

  I have started to make a small commission as well for a client up north, nothing big but it’s a great way to improve my skills and gets my name noticed, so that’s not a bad thing at all. So that’s what I will be doing this weekend, getting this finished.

  But the biggest and best thing I’m starting to do now is experimenting with some of the ideas I have had in my sketch book for years. This project will be very interesting to me and hopefully eye opening as I have certain views on how things could be and why, so this will undoubtedly give me some great new directions. As many designers do I’m always asking questions and in turn questioning the norm, so it’s in our nature to explore, try new things and push boundaries (sorry very cliché that). Im planning to show these experiments on this blog in the next few weeks once I get things made. So look out for that as its certainly going to be a contrast to what I usually make. And will hopefully show a different side to my design thinking