Nate’s Walnut Coffee Table

This table was the biggest project during my first year of studying furniture design at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. The design brief required us to build a table of any kind that had a drawer, was smaller than 6 sq ft, and was under a certain material allowance. The design of this table was appropriated from a Finn Juhl writing table from the 1940s. I was really interested in Danish Modern furniture at the time and was immediately drawn to the simple form and lightness of Juhl’s table.

The rails were cut with a round shoulder to fit the diameter of the turned legs perfectly. Slip tenons were used to assemble most joints, with sliding dovetails rounding out the remainder of the joinery. The top is bookmatched walnut veneer on MDF. The drawer I suspect is of butternut and it rides on full extension maple drawer slides. The lining of the drawer was hand printed and stitched by my wonderful friend, Tamsin, who is studying textiles at Sheridan.

This was an extremely rewarding project as I learned a lot about my design inclinations as well as many technical abilities needed to realize these designs. I’m very interested to hear people’s thoughts about my work. All studio photos were taken by me.