Built in 1939, our house is in the wonderfully titled 'minimal traditional' style, which is to say that it's small and basic. We love the clear layout and simple adornment but the cozy floor plan leaves little room for grand furniture statements. Any piece must be purpose-built and have a considerate (i.e. minimal) footprint. In that spirit, we have been working on a bar cabinet for our dining room to hold plants, lighting, and... the bar. Full scale mock-ups in poplar and birch plywood. Final piece to be walnut.
Studio Stools
A mock-up for a pair of studio stools – testing overall height, seat size, leg angles, joinery and Danish cord weave. Made a few design tweaks, and just started milling the white oak for the real deal.
Monitor Stand
A monitor stand needn't support the weight of a small car but over-engineering is a recurring theme in our metal work. The angled grouping of piers is a loving homage to OMA's Villa dall'Ava. Of course, now we have fancy monitor arms and no longer need a single purpose pedestal. Maybe we should have considered that...
Drink Stands
Is champagne classy or is it the champagne flute or coupe that is classy? In any case, drinks need stylish places to rest and when there is no room for side tables, one makes single purpose stands to accommodate. Walnut and blackened steel.
A Little Illumination
Magical though it was, our existing dining room light (chandelier?) needed to go. In the search for cheerful, elegant lighting we were inexorably led to Scandinavia (a cold, dark place and kindred spirit to our native Seattle) and Clara von Zweigbergk's Cirque pendants. To accommodate a trio of fixtures, we needed a mounting ‘plate’ to conceal wires and center the collection in the room: a simple walnut plank with slight bevel and reveal.
There is some debate within the Chop Shop over whether or not one fixture hangs lower than the rest. It remains unresolved.
