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Veneered Writing Desk |
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Veneered Writing Desk |
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(Click any photo for a close-up view)
(Click any photo for a close-up view)
This writing desk was conceived as my first piece of "studio furniture" - i.e., a project which makes a visual artistic statement as much as it serves a functional purpose. The principal design concept is one of openness or "empty spaces", which is reflected in the construction details of the legs (with their see-through windows) and the manner in which the desktop slab seems to float above the leg assembly. Clean, straight lines were used throughout the piece for a very contemporary look, and three contrasting wood veneers were carefully selected for best visual impact. I explored a number of different parquetry (geometric arrangement of wood pieces) patterns for the desktop before settling on the design shown in the photos above.
The dominant wood species in this design is the tan-colored afrormosia veneer. The straight-grained nature of this species is exploited to create the reverse diamond match pattern in the parquetry top (see the third row of photos) and to give uniformity to the appearance of the leg assemblies. Jet black pieces of Macassar ebony serve visually (and structurally in the case of the large horizontal cross-members) to tie the various elements of the desk design together and give a sense of structural underpinning. The dark red makore provides a strong element of visual contrast and these ebony-banded makore stripes used in the desktop parquetry pattern are also mirrored down the sides of the legs. Finally, small pieces of maple serve as bright colored spacers and create the empty spaces that I was aiming for in this design.
With the exception of the small solid maple spacers, this entire desk is a veneered construction, laid up on dimensionally-stable MDF. In this application, the highly dense MDF core also serves to give the minimalist desk design added weight for stability. More importantly, the veneer can be applied so that the grain pattern from the desktop cascades over the edges and runs continuously down the sides of the top. Although difficult to see in the above photos (due to careful positioning of the light sources to avoid glare), the desktop is finished with 12 sprayed coats of hand polished high-gloss lacquer. This glass-smooth finish adds the final touch to a piece of furniture that I'm proud to call one of my finest woodworking accomplishments to date.
60" long, 32" wide, and 30" tall.
For other contemporary styled pieces, please see the Contemporary furniture page. Visit the Tables & Desks page for other styles.
Due to it's unique/distinctive nature, this project is included in my Signature Pieces collection of work Feel free to visit that page to learn more.
$3620 for the desk shown above. Prices for other wood/veneer species will vary.