- Designs (14)
- Misreadings (16)
- Permusations (38)
- Recommendations (3)
- 19. April 2009: Drifting with Dieter at the Flea market
- 9. April 2009: Imperceptions
- 29. March 2009: To Mail or not to mail
- 6. March 2009: Blogging while delirious
- 27. February 2009: A study in contrasts
- 22. February 2009: Southern Hospitality
- 10. February 2009: Surly Signs are Done
- 9. February 2009: From the Mouths of Babes
- 5. February 2009: Toast
- 26. January 2009: Hogan's Heroes-The Movie
Keeping it simple
I was very excited to deliver a walnut bench to a client for a house that is on a Home Tour. It was rush order from the interior designer to create a piece that would go up against a wall to anchor a piece of art and yet at the same time not compete with the art and at the same time be elegant.
The designer had a basic concept of what she wanted and so I ran with that. For me the challange and excitement was to put my own stamp on it becuase I do like simplicity, but I was worried that the aforementioned desired outcome could produce an ultimately bland piece.
The strength the bench had going for it was that it was to be 76 inches long. The top of the bench was to be a nicely streched out hyprebola, which helped slim out the 1 3/4 inch thick top.
The next challenge was to keep the legs proportionate to the top and still be able to support the bench. The trick there was to create a pleasing profile to the leg and then work the thickness of the leg out until it seemed that it would be mechanically sound.
So all in all, the top of the bench then had to carry the piece. The long curves of the top acheived the goal of elegance but their mathematical crispness needed to be softened. The solution to this was to aggressively round the upper and lower edges of the top.
The extreme disadvantage to the project was that it basically had to built in two and a half days so there would be adequate time to put a finish on it. This essentially reinforced the drive toward total simplicty, which in the end may have saved it from an overthought and overwrought design.
In the end the encouraging thing a I brought from the experience was even knowing the bench was ultimately just an accent piece in a much larger design, I was able to bring the same level of excitement and drive as if it were the centerpiece. I am sure there is a deeper philosophical, behavioral lesson learned here but I suspect it doesn’t need to be verbalized to be retained.
