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Art Nouveau Coffee Table in Bent Laminated Ash Marshfield, Massachusetts

One of my first commissions came from friends in the town where I was raised as a child. The couple had watched me grow up and were intrigued my new skills and confidence. They needed a coffee table, and gave me free rein in the design.

We decided on a design where the structural elements of the design could be visible through the glass top. The concept rested upon my interest in curved lines, and my desire to find methods to bend wood into linear forms as seen in the work of Thonet and the Art Nouveau period.

Ash wood was chosen due to the fact that it is a light colored wood known for its strength and ease in bending. I experimented with steam bending and came up with the 'whiplash' curves that help suspend the glass. The sculptured molding of the legs and the table edge are drawn up and out to provide additional support for the heavy top.

The sculptural forms that emerge at the tips of the wood can be seen in other designs of that period, and evolve into a vocabulary that runs through my work to this day.