SYD – Fine Furniture/Design

Tag: Brass

  • Blaine desk & credenza

    Blaine desk & credenza

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    This client was re-doing his entire office and wanted something simple but nice for his office. We worked out a design for a matching set of furniture that was simple in form, but rich in details. 

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    There’s two parts to each of the designs. The first part is the outside dark layer. The dark layer is mahogany that has been stained to be a dark rich tone. The top flows down into the top, creating a continuous line. The legs end on the floor with a cap to create a visual punctuation mark.

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    The second part is the inner part and that is made from veneered panels of rippled sycamore. The photos don’t give this wood justice, but the wood grain shimmers as you walk around the piece as it catches different light source. To break up the spaces for the drawers, I inlayed a line of wenge. 

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    The hardware was picked out by my client and has a nice blend of traditional and modern element. It’s a nice visual stamp that breaks up the big vast white space and gives your eye something to follow.

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  • HEX game table

    HEX game table

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    My Client approached me wanting to create a game table for his family using his family Walnut that had been passed down the generation from his grandfather to his father and then down to him. My client would move the lumber everywhere he went until he could find out what exactly to build with it. 

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    Being an avid gamer, he and his family enjoys getting together to play role playing games where the games could go on for hours and possibly days. He wanted to be able to pause the game with all the pieces intact and in the meantime be able to keep everything from getting moved accidentally until the game would continue. After some research, we came to the split level design where the playing area is sunken in and there is a solid wood table top insert that can go on top to cover up the playing area. We also decided on having the game table hexagon shaped to better fit the room and so everyone is close together. 

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    The playing area is covered with gaming felt so it accommodates several types of games. There is also a plexi-glass insert so game maps can be inserted underneath without damaging it.

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    Since the table is six sided, we decided on a three-legged pedestal table base with a padauk inlay going down the center of each of the legs.

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    The client’s walnut had been air-dried so the walnut hadn’t lost it’s vibrant color as commercial steam dried walnut tends to do. Knowing that the lumber itself has a story makes it that much more of a pleasure to work with. I know this piece of furniture will be handed down the generations just like the lumber was.

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  • Christmas Jewelry Box

    Christmas Jewelry Box

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    A good friend of mine approached me to make a jewelry box for his wife as a Christmas present. Before this commission, she was using a large plastic fishing tackle box to house her jewelry box. It was time for her to get a legitimate box she could call a jewelry box.  She loves jewelry and has a lot of it so that was the main focus- creating an elegant box large enough to house her jewelry, but doesn’t look clunky. I went for rippled English sycamore because a light wood make the whole thing feel lighter and I believe a jewelry box looks better in light wood. The rippled English sycamore gives enough figure and patterns to make the box beautiful without being too dramatic.

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    The necklaces take up the most space, so we went for as much necklace storage as possible. There are two doors on the sides that hinge open to hold necklaces. On the door there are hooks and a small shelf so that hanging necklaces don’t keep the door from closing. There is also a lift up top made of Sapele that opens to reveal a compartment for earrings, rings, and small jewelry. When the lift up top is closed, it locks the side necklace doors so it’s easier to move around if need be.

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    There are 9 drawers- 3 long one and 6 mini ones, all with dividers in them. The drawers are made out of solid hard maple with splines in the corners to make it strong, as well as add a touch of decorative element. The dividers fit into the drawers using a birds mouth joinery, which make it possible to add dividers to thin wood without having to compromise the strength of the wood. I put in a green suede liner on the bottom to keep the jewelry from getting scratched up.

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    The style of this jewely box is definately modern/contemporary, but I hope the added details injects some warmth to the design. I believe it will only get better with age and become more joy to use the longer she uses it. The rippled sycamore is finished using Renaissance wax, a wax developed by British art conservationist.

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  • Barrister inspired File Cabinet

    Barrister inspired File Cabinet

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    My client wanted a file cabinet to go with the round meeting table I had made for his office. Not needing to store many files, I wanted a piece of furniture that has many functions. Along with being a file cabinet, I wanted a to create a little shelf to place books, artwork, or other things in. Taking a cue from a barrister’s bookcase, I decided to make two separate cabinets that is stacked on top to create a bigger cabinet. This idea solidifies the different function these two cabinets have but combines it in one unified piece. I also made the total height end up so that it becomes a little table surface to put keys, snacks, business cards, or cups on.

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    First, I created a wide drawer for all the hanging files and oriented them in a lateral orientation to maximize the amount of storage without the cabinet becoming too deep. I didn’t want just a regular plain old box so I decided to have the top poke through so you see the end grain from the side. I also put in brass splines to accent that joint, but also give a little jazz to an otherwise boring joinery.

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    The upped cabinet is created in a similar fashion but the door is a glass door with mahogany frame. The idea for doors in a barrister’s bookcase is that the glass protects the contents from dust, without blocking the view of the contents. I wanted the door to swing up and slide back so no one has to hold the door open to access the contents. The mechanism took some figuring out to do since the door wants to rack and pinch as it’s sliding back. I alleviated some of that tendency by creating a brass guide that runs in a slot created in the back side of the door. The track helps keep the doors aligned parallel.

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    The whole piece is created using solid Sipo Mahogany. The drawers are made from Hard Maple with a box joint joinery.