Walnut & Maple Side Table

This project was my first time making a commissioned piece for a client, and it provided lots of learning points for myself as a designer working for/with a client. It took several turns before breaking ground on the fabrication, but in the end it all worked out splendidly and my client is extremely happy with their table. Initially I was given free reign with the design of the piece, they wanted something unique.

These are the sketches from the first round. I knew that I might have to go through a process of elimination in order to narrow down to a style or design and so I went for a wide variety of styles.

Sketching Round 1

Sketching Round 2

After the first round, my client changed their mind, and came up with a style and list of criteria for the table they wanted. The list was as follows:

Mid-Century Modern
Multifunctional, as chair/table
1 Shelf

I adjusted the next sketches accordingly. In the end they chose this larger sketch, very simple, sleek, and minimalist. They decided upon where they would keep it, and gave me dimensions to follow accordingly.

Modeling

From there, I used Fusion 360 to model a few different versions of it, they selected one, and I made a scale 3D print of it to get a better sense of the proportions and scaling of the components in relation to each other. Then I used the model to make a cut list and figure out how many board feet of each type of wood I would need.