The Evolution of a Design

For me, the idea that design evolves is a natural one. As keeper of many past sketch books, it is interesting to go back and see what it was you were thinking at a time. A visual diary as it were. Often, I look at these older ideas and musings and then decide which one is deserving of being pushed further... to see where it goes.

The evolution of ROSIE ( a coffee table ) came into being as I turned an very old painted plank about in my hands. The first thought was that it was a singular piece of wood. How rare, I thought, a 16 inch wide plank is hard to come by these days. That genesis was enough for me to examine further details of the now fascinating plank. Once denuded of the milk paint finish, the plank now revealed an even more fascination nature. It had large knots as hard as iron and was remarkably flat without dimensional flaws. Its original purpose was to act as a shelf in a late 1800's victorian home, now it was to become something new. A coffee table I thought, what better thing could a lowly utilitarian wine cellar shelf become? It was now elevated to the upstairs, to where the posh happenings would be taking place.

This is no longer a plank, it is an exotic piece of lumber, furniture grade with character to spare. The design now took on a life of its own, deep tapers along the table edge would give it a fineness it deserved.

Now that the design has dealt properly with the top surface, attention is brought to the supporting legs. Now the legs can't be allowed to take anything away from the tabletop, but work in concert lifting it to that perfect height for setting a glass of wine on. The rectilinear tabletop actually has small radii at each edge, so the legs should do the same. The design next called for the legs to be constructed with a round section sliced with two 90 degree planes ( borrowing a part of the flat surface of the Table top.) The stance of the legs is arranged in a way to tell us it is a now a modern table.

Now things are taking shape, the design has evolved to bring two common materials together making it so the forgotten plank is now a beautiful centerpiece for the modern home.