I long sought to make a table, and not only because I had an acute need for one. A table, though some did critique it as a desk, would allow me to prepare meals and share them with friends and colleagues–the very people that insisted that it was a desk, and not a table.
Designing and building one myself was the difficult path to obtaining what I needed, but this project provided the opportunity to make something and use it; something that I had a hand in creating. When afforded, such opportunities should always be taken.
This table also provided an avenue to experiment with aesthetics, and make design decisions confined by a series of self-defined rules.
The first imperative was to focus on two materials, contrasting their purposes. The steel conveys shape while the wood serves as the tactile surface.
The second imperative was to limit the number of operations required to form the table’s shape; the form was to be derived through the manipulation of a single piece of material. The structure was built through a series of simple operations on the steel: cut, bend, and roll.
Materials: patinated a36 plate steel, bleached white oak, soap
Photographs: Paul Vu/
Here and Now Agency
Wood: Eliot Saarinen
Steel: Arthur Kaplan
