Bedside Table (WIP)
The first idea I came up with for the Festival of Fast Making (10 items in 15 days) was a bedside table. I immediately thought of this because it’s a piece of furniture I need. Also, due to the way my bed works, the bedside table needs to meet certain specifications. There’s a pull out drawer in the base of the bed and having a traditional bedside table would prevent me from utilising that storage space in the bed. My partner, Caroline, and I really need to utilise every inch of storage space we can because we’re sharing a bedroom (I still have some of my clothing folded up on the floor until we figure out a better solution for our clothing). Being broke college students and large flats don’t typically go hand in hand and we’re typical. Basically, storage is an issue. Luckily, we previously lived in a camper van and this is an issue we’re accustomed to. There’s always a more efficient way to store things, you just have to get creative and approach it from a user’s perspective.
On Tony’s Tour, we visited Vitsoe, a Dieter Rams brain child. When I saw the 621 Table, I thought “oh my god, that would be an amazing option that would allow me to have the luxury of a bedside table and the ability to utilise the storage drawer in the bed”. So, I modelled the bedside table after Vitsoe’s 621 table. It relies on a balanced and low profile, yet sturdy build. Almost like a U on it’s side. The open front of the table is the feature that allows the ability to open the bed storage drawer, and this was feature that caught my eye. I started by conferring with Bridget Harvey(DM tutor and Maker) and Stef Willis(UAL tutor and Maker), which led me to make a model for the table with hot glue and a thicker craft paper (currently blanking on the name, I’ll update this).
I was unsure what material I wanted to use to go about this. In fact, there’s many different options that are viable. You could use a single sheet of plywood, kerfing the sheet at the desired lengths to create the U shape. You could use the same sheet of ply and cut it down to make 3 pieces, then assemble them into the U shape. You could make a metal frame and fill the negative space with whatever material you want. To be honest, I kind of want to do all of these. Which, told me I may be biting off more than I can chew for the whole idea of the festival of fast making…. but that’s okay (I think?). I booked a time slot in the metal shop week 1 of school, figuring it would be a good time to get in before all of the BA students were inducted and introduce myself to the technician. I didn’t exactly have a plan for what I wanted to do during this booking… but after talking to Daniel (the tech) he pushed me to work on something I wanted to do and I already had drawings, dimensions, and a good idea of what I was after for the bedside table. So I just hopped right in. I took scraps of square stock that were laying around the shop and started cutting miters to the desired lengths. Taking the time to ensure each piece was square and plumb before tack welding and finish welding, creating the frame. It was really tricky figuring out how to ensure the pieces were square and plumb. Especially because I didn’t want a support between the two legs on the backside of the table. I figured it would be more balanced if the legs were just connected at the front. Looking back, I should’ve made another model to simulate this. I got too excited and in a little over my head. I tend to do this to myself, I really need to slow down and take the time to work my projects out before just going for it. This is a big goal for myself.
Oh how I missed making in the comfort of a proper workshop. It is so fun to be in the flow of making. It reminds me of a quote from Peter Korn’s Why we make things and why it matters, “My consciousness comes to inhabit the tip of the knife and the tooth of the saw, so that I am not only in the world, but somehow of the world.” This quote helps me make sense of my busy mind. I rarely find peace in activities, making and surfing are the only two things that make me feel of the world and not just in it. It feels good to know this is a shared experience.
After finishing the frame (well, it still needs to be filed in certain spots and sanded so I can paint it), I figured I would use some engineered flooring scraps to finish the table. Luckily, on a Sunday morning walk through the Columbia Road Flower Market in Shoreditch, I happened to walk into a flooring store, Solid Floors, that had an exhibit showcasing furniture made from scraps of their flooring by various London based makers. I got to talking to Katrien, their marketing manager, and I brought up the course I had just started. She gestured to their storage room and said, “we have plenty more scraps if you want any” and I obliged (I’m a bit of a hoarder).
