The coffee table is a wrestling match between craft and material. They’re terrifically difficult to make.
The bottom portion is a 16-gauge aluminum sheet that has been carefully heated and inflated with pneumatic pressure in a special jig that I built. This process is wild and requires a somewhat delicate touch, carefully reading the elastic to plastic transition of deformation while making subtle adjustments to heat and pressure.. Subsequently, each one is different.
After the bottom portion has taken shape, I trim the parts and marry them to a 3/8” thick top surface via many linear feet of Tig welding. The welds are ground flush, and the entire surface gets hand-finished, adding slight but intentional variation in surface finish. Making the homogeneous aluminum form softer and more natural.
The effect is that of a large, formed object, rich in material.
When you’re around this object, it is obvious that it embodies many hours of handwork.
The coffee table is a wrestling match between craft and material. They’re terrifically difficult to make.
The bottom portion is a 16-gauge aluminum sheet that has been carefully heated and inflated with pneumatic pressure in a special jig that I built. This process is wild and requires a somewhat delicate touch, carefully reading the elastic to plastic transition of deformation while making subtle adjustments to heat and pressure.. Subsequently, each one is different.
After the bottom portion has taken shape, I trim the parts and marry them to a 3/8” thick top surface via many linear feet of Tig welding. The welds are ground flush, and the entire surface gets hand-finished, adding slight but intentional variation in surface finish. Making the homogeneous aluminum form softer and more natural.
The effect is that of a large, formed object, rich in material.
When you’re around this object, it is obvious that it embodies many hours of handwork.
