SYD – Fine Furniture/Design

Author: syd

Yuta Standing Desk

My brother, Yuta, commissioned a standing desk from me for his office. He’s been wanting one for awhile and had an Ikea one for his home office. He complained that it wasn’t sturdy and would wobble every time he touched it. I had also created a standing desk speculatively earlier, so I had him check it out so we can nail the dimensions down. The thing with standing desks is that there is not a standard size like most other furniture because we’re all different heights with different arm lengths and etc, etc.

[singlepic id=164 w=320 h=240 float=center]

Since he works for a media production company, he had to have plenty of space to sprawl out papers or editing equipment as well as his big computer monitor. I set about creating different levels of surfaces- one for his monitor, shallow and higher up so the eyes are level with the monitor. I created another level under the main surface so he can quickly clean the worktop and added drawers for extra storage. There is also a shelf towards the bottom where he can rest his feet on, store more things, and also to act as a stabilizing rail.

[singlepic id=166 w=320 h=240 float=center]

The difficult part of designing this piece was balancing out the size and bulk of the piece. The top came out to be 30″ wide x 58″ long. I started by cutting away angles- a large one in the front and a subtle one in the back. The desk had to match the rest of the room’s existing furniture (another desk I made for his birthday earlier) so we decided on pine plywood with the edges exposed. I kept going back and forth on this with myself, but I’m glad I stuck with it because the tone, color, and the grain is elegant. I’m especially happy with it because it uses an affordable material and shines it up with the use of thoughtful design and good craftsmanship.

[singlepic id=167 w=320 h=240 float=center]

To keep the light color, I used water-based polycrylic. The drawers are made from ash with the drawer front made from sinker cypress. I used UHMW plastic to act as drawer runners so the drawers won’t run a groove into the desk from use over time.

[singlepic id=168 w=320 h=240 float=center]

March 11, 2014
Outdoor Tables + Benches

My clients have a backyard garden area that would be the envy to anyone. The landscape architect designed an elegant area where people can hang out and socialize next to freshly growing vegetables, with the smell of smoke and cooking from the grill, and enjoying good company under an arbor with fruitless bradford pear trees

[singlepic id=152 w=320 h=240 float=center]

The arbor was started a few years ago and is just now getting to be filled out so my clients wanted to get a nice outdoor table to dine under. They wanted something classy that blends in with the landscape, but without being too rustic. They have a few stone sculptures that reminded me of a Tuscan winery so I started looking for inspiration in books, but all I could see were weathered and beaten up gray farm style tables. That weathered look is nice, but I didn’t think it would look good in their backyard. I also think people should grow up with their furniture and see it weather themselves through the years instead of getting furniture already weathered- their history unknown.

[singlepic id=150 w=320 h=240 float=center]

I took inspiration from the arched arbors. At first I wanted to incorporate arches into the design but decided that it was too obvious and predictable so I took the same elements from the supports that hold up the arches. The archway supports were made from 1″x2″ rectangular tubing, so that became my choice of material. When you step away from under the archway, the 1×2 lines going vertical becomes a strong element so I wanted to emphasize that vertical line. To do that, I let the legs shoot straight through the top so it’s visible from all around. This cohesion actually makes the two different material distinct in my opinion. In a lot of the metal and wood furniture on the market out there, the difference of metal and wood becomes kind of lost. Usually, the wood just sits on top or is let into a metal frame.

[singlepic id=154 w=320 h=240 float=center]

Now, the question was the wood. I was looking at using cypress, but on my drive to meet my metal worker in Elgin, I saw a sign on the side of the road ‘Sinker Cypress’. Sinker Cypress is logs that have been submerged underwater for decades and sometimes centuries. The logging industries used to float logs down the river as a means of transportation to the milling factories, but sometimes the logs sink underwater and was forgotten until recently. Recently, loggers have found these old cypress logs that have been preserved underwater due to the lack of oxygen. Sinker cypress has beautiful colors ranging from olive to gold. To read more about it, visit here.

[singlepic id=157 w=320 h=240 float=center]

One thing I don’t like about picnic tables is that the ends of the boards start moving and becomes misaligned. To help with this issue, I decided to add a breadboard on the ends. This breadboard will keep the many boards aligned and also helps to cover up the endgrains (end of the board) since endgrain is like a straw- it sucks up the moisture. To help shed water, the boards have 1/8″ gap between the boards. The sinker cypress is finished using Penofin, which is a type of outdoor oil designed for decking and siding. It’s not the most durable finish out there, but it’s easy to fix and maintain.

[singlepic id=153 w=320 h=240 float=center]

March 11, 2014
FWC-18′ conference table

The good people of Far West Capital are so awesome that their business and staff just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I had made a 12′ conference table for them a few years ago, and they’ve already outgrown that one, so they commissioned me to make a 18′ conference table this time. They loved the traditional meets modern aesthetic of the last one, so we decided to design something that looks totally different from the last one, yet feels similar.

[singlepic id=162 w=320 h=240 float=center]

This was by far the biggest project I’ve had the opportunity to work on and logistics became the first and foremost in the design aspect. How can I make these parts in my shop and how can I break the pieces up so I can move it safely and easily? I decided that the top will be made from 3 parts and I wanted to make the top as light as possible since that has the biggest area. To support the top, there are thick and wide aprons that come apart and fit together with notches made in the wood. This gives stability to an otherwise flexible top. The aprons rest on pedestals that are angles and tapered in almost every direction. The taper came from trying to gain as much foot space as possible without sacrificing stability. One side of the pedestal is held in with clips so you can remove it to store and hide conference table equipment. At the feet there is a 1/4″ blackened plate steel that adds weight and distributes the footprint out so the top wont tip over.

[singlepic id=145 w=320 h=240 float=center]

The whole table is made from peruvian walnut veneered panels with solid wood edging. The removable center piece is made of spalted beech. Spalted is a figure in wood caused by fungal attack. The wood is left for fungus to attack, but then harvested before the wood rots completely and becomes unusable. It’s characteristics are black vein like lines with wood tones around it being different. I think the spalted beech was a nice compliment to the peruvian walnut and adds a little bit of country to the otherwise sophisticated elements.

[singlepic id=147 w=320 h=240 float=center]

To break up the large dark surface and to give a nod to traditional furniture we chose to inlay cross banding around the border. Cross banding is inlayed wood that is aligned so the grain is oriented side to side across the length. The outer cross banding is made from Bolivian rosewood and the inner cross banding that borders the spalted beech is Macassar Ebony. I feel the different tones in the woods give a nice transition to the different woods.

[singlepic id=144 w=320 h=240 float=center]

Sixteen people can sit all around the table easily and maybe a few more if people are willing to get close and cozy with each other. I think this design is a success because the real design elements are in the small details.

March 11, 2014
Horn Jewelry Box

This client approached me about a jewelry box for his soon to be wife as a wedding gift. I’ve always loved the idea that I can create something meaningful for a couple on this special day. This object will be in some way linked as something that will remind them of this once in a lifetime moment. So, of course, I jumped on the project.

[singlepic id=141 w=320 h=240 float=center]

We talked about what designs he and his wife was into, and it became apparent that he wanted something simple, yet elegant. They also loved mid century designs as well as art deco so I wanted to tie elements of those in while creating something unique. The design we stumbled upon is layers of pecan and maple that is slightly different in size so it creates a staggered effect. The bevel on the edges bring this staggered effect to life while still maintaining the subtleness.For the top, I chose spalted maple since the tones were similar with the rest of the box and let’s face it, spalted lumber is just plain beautiful to look at.

[singlepic id=139 w=320 h=240 float=center]

There are four small drawers with removable dividers and a lift up lid that also houses removable dividers. The dividers fit into a beveled groove (birds mouth groove) so the thin divider sides are kept as strong as possible. To be able to lift the lid up, I notched out a little triangle- just enough for a finger to grab hold of the lid. I brought the triangle detail down to the rest of the pecan layers to keep everything balanced.

[singlepic id=135 w=320 h=240 float=center]

[singlepic id=133 w=320 h=240 float=center]

The drawers needed a handle and I didn’t want to disturb the nice triangle feature, so I decided to cutout a finger hole on the side that allows for the drawers to be opened easily. I think it’s interesting to be able see the maple drawer sides through the cutout and see the movement of the cutout as the drawer is being opened.

[singlepic id=140 w=320 h=240 float=center][singlepic id=134 w=320 h=240 float=center]

November 14, 2013
Tambour sideboard

I was approached to design a credenza/sideboard that matches a conference table I made in the past. A+L Conference Table. The main purpose for the sideboard was a storage unit that housed all their conferencing equipment when they weren’t using it as well as all the wires and misc things that should be hidden when it’s not used. The sideboard also makes a great platform to showcase all the awards they have won in the past.

[singlepic id=124 w=320 h=240 float=center]

Since there wasn’t a whole lot of space between the wall and the conference table chairs, I wanted to avoid having a door that swings out- especially if they needed the cabinet open for one reason or another. That left me with sliding doors or tambour doors as the options for the doors. Tambours are doors that slide in a track and roll so that it’s able to tuck into the sides and hide behind the back panel. You see this used on roll top desks.

[singlepic id=127 w=320 h=240 float=center]

After our design meeting, the client and I both agreed that tambours were the better choice for this situation. Not only does it look nicer, it’s a better solution functionally since you can reveal just the center shelf area, or open it all the way to showcase the whole interior of the cabinet. I also believe tambours have a certain nostalgic feeling that reminds us of beautiful furniture of the past.

[singlepic id=130 w=320 h=240 float=center]

The design inspiration came from mid-century modern furniture. I think the simplicity in form of the designers of this era got it just right. It’s hard to improve upon it, so I left the lines as clean as possible and tried to let all the details shine. Like many of SYD furniture, the eye is in the detail and the craftsmanship. Spend time on those elements and you don’t need fancy or unusual forms to stand out.

[singlepic id=125 w=320 h=240 float=center]

Most of the furniture in the room is made of pecan, so pecan was the natural choice of wood for this project. We didn’t want the room to look like a forest of pecan, so we decided to make the tambour doors out of a different, but complimentary wood. In this case, we decided on teak. The warm color of teak and the rich grain makes the door the focal point without taking all of the spotlight.

[singlepic id=129 w=320 h=240 float=center]

November 14, 2013
Yuta Desk

This desk was created as a gift for my brother Yuta. He helped me get my business started and has helped me in countless other ways so as a token of my appreciation I decided to make him a computer desk. His line of business is film and video production and everything is done on computer, I decided he won’t have too much need for drawers or cabinets. The one thing I noticed was that since every film project takes up a lot of computer memory, he needs an external hard drive for every project. His old desk had external hard drives scattered on his desktop and even piled on the floor. To account for this, I decided to create a little shelf area right under the top and in between the drawers so he can quickly tuck and hide things that has no need to be on the work surface. This makes it possible for the top to be clutter free.

[singlepic id=119 w=320 h=240 float=center]

The inspiration for this design came from my fascination of windsor chairs- mainly the part where the legs attach into the bottom of the seat with just a hole and a round tenon. I wanted to try to incorporate this look but make it strong enough to resist racking and twisting. The legs are tapered and splay out to create the look of the windsor chair legs. The legs are not turned like the windsor chairs because I didn’t feel it would look right. Also, the aprons are designed to prevent racking so it is much larger than you see in the windsor chairs.

[singlepic id=121 w=320 h=240 float=center]

Because the legs splay out, I decided to introduce complimentary angles to the top, the drawers, and even to the inside partitions that separate the shelf area from the drawers. When the drawers are closed, that angle flows all the way through to the back. The angles add a lot more work to the piece, but I think it helps elevate it from just a regular boxy furniture.

Since this is a computer desk with monitors and other necessary electronic equipment, I designed the back so wires and cords will be easy to feed through and hide.

[singlepic id=120 w=320 h=240 float=center]

I wanted to accentuate the different parts of the table (top and the base) so I used contrasting woods- Ash and Beech. I also decided to bleach the ash to create a paper white look. Bleaching creates a greater contrast from the Beech and also looks more elegant than unbleached ash (unbleached ash takes on a yellow tint with finish).

[singlepic id=122 w=320 h=240 float=center]

In the end, we were able to set up a surprise birthday party where he thought he was helping me deliver a desk to his boss’s house, but instead it turned out the desk he was helping deliver was his desk.

June 30, 2013