The Brief : Design a piece of furniture that captures the idea of new beginnings, changes and transitions. It can be literal or symbolic. I decided to make a desk because as I am coming close to my graduation and school will be over, we as humans continue to learn. A desk is that area where you focus and pursue new findings and ideas. A desk for me needed area to work, but also area to display things of interest.
The first issue I faced was finding too much inspiration. I ended up making a board on Pinterest with almost 300 pins, and it overwhelmed me with different styles and ideas. At first I did not know what I wanted to make but the idea that resonated the most with me was a desk. With that came many desks with different styles and features.
What I had to do to help myself start ideating was figure our, what do I personally need in a desk for myself. I wrote it in the top corner to remind myself as I was quickly ideating to get my ideas across. I was experimenting different shapes and also trying different legs. The sketch to the right shows the final sketch I decided to go with along with the estimated measurements.
My first step was to source the wood, which is Hard Maple. I made the decision that I wanted to use solid wood instead of plywood. When the wood was sourced, I had to use the planar on all the planks and then glue them all together to form them into boards. From there the CNC machine was used to cut out the bean shapes you see from the sketch.
After the boards were glued together, the big board was cut manually because it did not fit on the CNC machine. From there came a lot of sanding to match the height throughout all of the boards, as well as sanding the edges to get it ready for the router.
These 3D-printed clamps were designed to hold the two bean shaped shelves, as well as the tabletop to the main leg. I had to do this because the beans needed support to hold themselves on tightly to the leg.
