Filed under: Architecture, Furniture, Industrial, Inspiration, Nature, Our Work, Surface
I made these finials to go on top of the farm rollers I’ve mentioned before. The oak body of the finial is turned from a solid piece of wood. I like the checking (cracks) you can achieve with a solid piece of wood….the outside surface drys more quickly than the inside core of the wood so it cracks. If you were to laminate several smaller pieces of wood together and than turn the piece you would get little or no checking which is generally the most desired affect but not for me, I like to see the grain and nature of a single block of wood. The shape of the finial was inspired by a classical urn shape, often fashioned in metal and seen on old European entry gates, in stone on the roof of 18th century Palladian styled manor house or furniture…they’re everywhere. The zinc leaves are cut from salvaged roofing material. I just cut random size leaves, gathered them together in a pattern designed to represent the agave plant…..drilled the top of the urn and forced them in. You can use these in pairs to create symmetry or singly in another composition. Outside, a pair of these on the turned oak columns could give a garden path a little zest.
The agave plant was the inspiration for the zinc leaves.
This drafting table was probably one of my favorite pieces I ever came across. I speak of it in the past tense because someone gave me enough money for me to let it go… I had it in my house for many years…time to let it go. It originally had a large wooden top that was attached to the cast iron base, it tilted back and forth as well as up and down to suit the draftsman’s fancy. I switched out the wood top for a found piece of glass that is nearly 3/4″ thick and added the wheels. The thing I was most “drawn” to by the table was how versatile it is. It can be cranked up to bar height down to dining height or used as a counter. It was a great table for parties. It did double duty as buffet, dining and console table…and could be rolled around.The glass top let’s one appreciate the beautiful workings of the table and your friends shoes.
Trade Show Set up. We always know how much space we have to work with for a show…mapping out the large scale pieces and staging the booth in a way that leads the buyers into the booth is important…there is so much to show our customers but not everything makes the cut. Here we used a monochromatic color palette to soothe the eye as there is dangerously too much in the booth.
Filed under: Our Work
This is a picture of part of a booth we set up at a trade show in
Atlanta. Trade shows are a lot of work and are gratifying when the
work is all done and you’re proud to have created a context that will
show your goods in their best light. Here I wanted to show our X base
console table, fashioned from reclaimed wood in an Island Beach setting
complete with shutters and corrugated metal walls and a palm tree. The
table acts as an anchor in the space while the other smaller pieces
fill in. If you look carefully in this picture, you will see many
reclaimed items; old kitchen pot with wheels, a framed slate roof
tile, the lamps made from old machine parts, factory stools and all
wooden frames are reclaimed barn wood.
Here is another shot of the booth in Atlanta at the Gift Show. There I
am peeking around the corner. Look at the clear plastic award for best
display on the table!
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Earlier I had shared the stack of chalkboard panels I had salvaged here> Here is an example of what can be done with them.
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Simple oak blocks cut from an old barn beam make these great seats or even end tables. The antique mantel gives the space a focal point to work off of, not unlike the console on the other side of the booth. The X base round table is a very successful table of ours. The top and base can be made in any dimension and with many kind of material and color options.
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The thing I love about this console is the scale and color of unfinished reclaimed oak and the surface of the old barn floor plank that is the top. It measures 11′ long 12″ deep and 36 ” high. This table is a bit long for most peoples home, but the long board was so wonderful I hated to cut it down….I do have more of these boards and would cut it down if necessary.
Look at the ware of this 18th century barn floor board…there is even an old nail head still in the floor.
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This is an old bakery cart. It used to have wire shelving so that air
could flow around freshly baked goods to cool down. The wire shelves
were OK for loaves of bread, but to make this cart into a proper
shelving unit strong enough for a TV or stereo equipment, we needed
something a little stronger. The reclaimed wooden boards have been
glued up and cut to size. Some of the old white paint remains on the
boards and complements the grey galvanized color of the metal cart.
The shelves are adjustable so the piece can really be arranged to suit
ones own needs.
This is an awesome dining table. The heft and weight of such a large
table really requires a large room. The top is made from old hemlock
barn beams carefully milled and glued up to retain as much of the old
white paint as possible. The legs are made from old pipes, pipe
fittings and flanges. To recreate a table base like this one only
needs to visit a plumbing supply store and let your imagination run
wild.
Brian Foster's Groundwork 