A table for the Internet

Creating a piece of original furniture from my own design was at the heart of my goals upon embarking on my formal training as a furniture maker. Although you can find great insight into recreating furniture of the past, creating your own project from conception to finish breeds something of a creative revelation for someone that has only been a woodworking employee. When designing your own piece, without the expectations of a customer, it forces you to make several personal choices as to how you want the furniture to represent you personally, esthetically and as a craftsman. These decisions became more daunting than I had expected which slowed my usual pace of production.
For my furniture design project, I wanted to explore a variation of a side table or sofa table. Technological development far exceeds the pace of furniture development. Most recently laptops have become part of most peoples lives and moved computing out of the office and into the living room but yet have a furniture counterpart. I wanted to make relatively small piece of furniture which can easily be moved that gives a place to set your laptop while lying on the couch. To achieve this I designed I developed a side table with an extended leaf shaped almost like a painter pallet. I then incorporated a steam bent leg under the leaf so that it would have support but allow the table to pull close to the couch. I chose to use Birdseye maple and set the curved leg apart by painting it black.
I wanted to build this table as a companion in color and wood selection to the shaker hall table, which I built in my introduction to furniture class, but also as a stylistic foil to the simple traditional shaker design. I felt that since the table has a modern function it also required modern style. The shaker style table used thin tapered legs that are simple and allow access to easy floor cleaning stressed in shaker aesthetic. I choose a much heavier leg design that flourished outward with an inset foot; this design provided the legs with the heavy duty utility allowing it to be moved around without concern of damaging the legs. I was able to keep consistency between the two styles by utilizing similar proportions and construction with mortise and tenon aprons. I tried to incorporate the function of the table into the design by snaking a power cord into the black steam bent leg allowing for a power source on the table top without compromising the beauty of the woodworking.
The creative process was a liberating but also mentally taxing in which every detail became an introspective question of my personal beliefs of aesthetics and quality. Ones taste and conviction on quality or extremely difficult to define and pin down but it is something that you can always identify. Designing from conception takes you away from the role of a critic and instills a sense of accomplishment and the bravery to stand behind your work with pride.