I felt the table needed to use similar curves and shaping to the chairs to be a coherent suite. Part of the brief for the table was that the chairs should slide under when not in use, which made the designing that bit more complicated. I looked at the space envelope that the chairs occupied, and started to play with what was left.
After several late night sessions, I arrived at the current design, and sent a video clip of the scale model to the client for approval. The legs were to be coopered together in a curve, raked over, and featured an elliptical cut-out for leg space.
With the design approved, the search for wood began. I located an ash log that had come from the Longleat Estate. It had beautiful colour with a wide central olive section and was virtually flawless. It had been a remarkable tree and the boards were about a metre across, meaning we could do the table top in a single board width.
The chairs were made to the original design with a tweak to the seat height requested by the client. I used my favoured combination of woods which feel works well.
This is a design that I feel has been extremely successful in that it achieves all one could wish for. Visually the forms works well together, and practically speaking it serves its purpose beautifully.
The view from the workshop on a late night design session.
