SYD – Fine Furniture/Design

Author: syd

Stefanie Desk

This client approached me wanting to create a desk for her fiance as a surprise christmas present. She liked the Harmonson desk I created earlier, and she also showed me several photos of a contemporary and minimalist design she liked. I took the common link between the two and came up with this design.

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This design is based off of the popular parson’s table. The minimal and clean look, I believe, is a timeless look. Where the legs meet the top, I decided to use a triple miter joinery. Most parson’s table made nowadays is mitered at the top, but the legs just butt up to the top, creating a weak joint. The triple miter, which was used extensively in chinese furniture, is a locking joinery. There are small tenons that lock into the mating surface, creating a joinery that is strong enough to stand even without glue- though glue is still used to make the joint even stronger.

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The drawers are made from quartersawn white oak (which is stable and wear resistant) with hand cut dovetail joinery that ride on maple drawer guides (also wear resistant). I’m a big fan of drawers that slide against wood if it’s made and fitted well. It’s a subtle thing, but wood on wood drawers feel and sound better when used.

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Other than the top and the drawers, the desk is made from Sipo Mahogany and Sapele panels . I used leather for the top because the client wanted the top to be made of another material and leather seemed very appropriate for this design. The leather helps to emphasize the frame work in the desk as well as making a nice writing surface. The dark tone of the leather will tie together nicely with the dark rubbed bronze of the handles manufactured by Linnea. (these photos don’t show the handles because I did not have the handles at the time of the photos. I will update with more photos when I take more photos.)

January 5, 2013
Harmonson Credenza

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This is the follow up project to the Harmonson Desk. Like I mentioned in the desk post, this client likes to keep his room uncluttered. So for the credenza, he asked me to create a design where everything can be hidden except for a phone which will sit on top of it. All of the office equipment and accessories would need to be stored in there and be able to plug in. He also needed access to a hanging file cabinet, so we incorporated a hanging file drawer into the design.

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The credenza is on the bigger side- measuring 8′ long, 16″ deep and 30″ high. Most of the design elements are stripped down to emphasize the Macassar ebony- the star of the show. I focused on subtlety and added small bevels where the ‘feet’ and ‘head’ meet the body. The credenza is divided into five sections, each with a door in front of it. The very left section housed 4 drawers with one of them being a hanging file cabinet drawer. The 2nd to the left and the middle section is one long section with adjustable shelves. The 2nd from the right has small adjustable shelves, and the far right has 3 pull out trays.

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To match the desk, we chose mahogany and Macassar ebony. Most of the credenza is made from solid mahogany and the doors are made from Macassar ebony veneered panels. Most commercial plywood has a bookmatch sequence which means they take the veneer slices in the order it was cut and the flip it so it creates a mirror image of the figure. This creates an interesting look, but I find that the repetition becomes all too evident when people use commercial plywood- especially when the veneer slices are narrow in width. The reason solid wood construction is so pleasing to look at is because no two boards are alike. It’s complete randomness- although the boards should be similar in figure and color. To achieve that random look, I ordered Macassar ebony veneer all from different flitches (trees). That way, there’s no chance I will get repetition of any one grain pattern.

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The drawers are made with hand cut dovetails and I used side mount drawer guides. The reason for that is in order to maximize the available space for the hanging files, I oriented the drawer to make it into a lateral file system (which means that the hanging files slide side-to-side instead of front-to-back). This orientation meant that the back of the drawer had to be able to pull out past the front of the drawers above it. This called for special guides called overextension guides and they’re only available as side mount drawers. It’s a shame to have to cover up some of the hand cut dovetails with these metal guides, but functionality trumps aesthetics. The drawer fronts have a recessed cut-out for the drawer handles due to the fact that the door needs to be able to close.

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For the hinges, I used Brusso offset knife hinges because I wanted the doors to be able to swing 270 deg. for the outside doors (which means it can fold back around the cabinet sides) and 180 deg. for the internal doors (which means that the doors can completely overlap the doors that are next to it.) You don’t see these hinges very often and they are reserved for fine furniture because it’s difficult to install them. First, they have to be morticed into the cabinet and doors, but also there is no adjustability once it’s in, so everything has to be made perfect. Since I wanted the doors to be able to overlap the next door over, it meant that I couldn’t have any handles projecting from the doors. I also didn’t want anything recessed into the doors since that will disrupt the flow of the Macassar ebony, so I ended up using magnetic push latches made from Blum.

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I also created a small shelf for him so he can display his photos or some books. It repeats the angle taken from the top of the credenza and has a black steel backsplash detail to anchor the shelf to the wall.

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December 9, 2012
Harmonson Desk

This client likes to keep his office clean and uncluttered so when he asked me to create a new desk for him, I suggested we create a desk where it has the appearance of being light and airy. Most executive desks have a heavy look that makes the occupant look intimidating. How can you do business with someone that’s intimidating? The best thing a person can do is to achieve rapport.

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What storage we lose from taking out the cabinets for drawers or doors that many desks have is to create drawer spaces in the space where the apron is- and also building a credenza to match the desk for many of the storage and office equipments.

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At 60″ long and 32″ wide, the desk is on the bigger side. The desk is wide enough for two people to sit across from each other and have enough space to have conversations or to exchange in business negotiations. The extra size also allows for ample space to layout paperwork and it gives the ability to easily be organized. (The desk pad is on the bigger side, so in the photo, the desk may look smaller than it actually is.)

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The wood chosen for this project is Mahogany for the frame work and Macassar ebony for the panels. I took design elements from traditional furniture designs and stripped it down to the essentials. The two wide drawers are hand dovetailed drawers that slide in wooden guide rails. There’s something soothing and pleasant about the feel of wooden guide rails. With this design, the charm of the whole desk would have been lost with manufactured drawer guides.

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December 9, 2012
Vanity or Liquor Tray

These trays are a beautiful way to keep your beauty products organized. They could also be used as a tray to hold your liquor bottles. The mirror bottom shows off your products and they bounce light off to highlight the things that make you who you are.

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The joinery is a mitered joint reinforced with wood ‘stitches’. This gives the piece more strength and gives it a handmade charm.

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We can makes these in either 12″x12″ square tray or 12″ x 24″ trays. Custom sizes are also available, but will cost a little more. Any type of wood can be used but will be priced accordingly depending on the species. But most woods will fall into this pricing category:

12″x12″ -$75

12″x24″ -$150

Due to the mirror and the shipping costs, I will not ship this product. I can either deliver it if you’re located in Austin or I will deliver to places outside of Austin within 120mile radius with an order of 5 or more. Please allow 1-2 weeks since I make it from scratch on order.

October 4, 2012
Outdoor Bench with Sliding Table

This outdoor bench was made to fit against a stone wall at my client’s backyard garden. We wanted to highlight the stone wall since it was one of the key features that tied the whole backyard together. We decided to use clean, simple, lines to design the bench. The bench uses 2 1/2″ thick boards of mahogany since it needs to span 8 feet, but it also gives the bench a visual weight that helps to make the simple lines bold. The stone wall can be used as a back rest. The use of natural materials used in this raw way is appealing to me. There’s little frou frou and the heaviness of each of the materials fits with the concept of the outdoor space.

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The garden backyard was designed not only as a garden, but also as a social place where guests can enjoy each other’s company outdoors as many people here in Austin love to do. With that in mind, we designed the bench with a table that slide along the length of the bench. This sliding table serves not only to hold guest’s drinks or plates, but it also gives more flexibility to different kinds of guests. If there’s a couple that want to sit next to each other, then move the table over. If you just want to sit with a friend for a chat, then you can also share the table by sliding it in between. Maybe someone is telling a story and everyone wants to sit on the bench, then you can roll the table off to squeeze another person in.

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The bench is finished using Sikkens Cetol 1+23 system.

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October 4, 2012
The Johansen Table

This client wanted a dining table that would fit into their tight dining area.They love to entertain, so the dining table had to be able to expand to seat more people.The circular dining table is constructed in two halves with sliding aprons that hold two extra leaves. My clients love the danish modern look of sleek and clean but also keeping the depth and character of the wood alive. What we came up with is a design that takes inspiration from Harry Ostergaard. The Johansen table is constructed with stack lamination for the apron with a tapered leg attached by a dovetail joinery.

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Traditionally, when building a circular table, craftsmen would stack laminate their aprons out of inferior woods like poplar and then veneer the face of it with beautiful wood like mahogany or rosewood. To me, the different layers and the changing grains of the stack lamination is beautiful in itself, so I decided not to cover it up, but turn it into a design element. We ended up with the dovetail joinery for the legs because it was the most honest connection. Anyone looking at it can visually see that the legs aren’t coming apart.

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The table is all constructed out of American Black Walnut except for the Maple sliding rails for the extra leaves. It is finished with a hand rubbed oil finished off with a layer of wax.
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July 1, 2012