The 3D Art of Aluminum and Log Tables
Pouring molten aluminum onto wood sounds like a science project but in the case of Hilla Shamia the project is all about the amazing juxtaposition of rough-hewn and scarred raw wood against the cold crisp sheen of metal.
The checks, splits and graining of the slightly burnt Cypress or Eucalyptus wood are held and framed in aluminum like a 3D art exhibit.
Stumping through Resin
When Michael Thomas of mth woodworks goes for hikes in the forest he more often than not comes back with log or stump that is soon transformed into a stunning living base to his white resin topped Bloom Coffee Tables.
The log chunks are placed upside down into a molten bed of resin. After hardening, only the table top is sanded and polished to a smooth finish, the rest is left in the beautifully raw – albeit cleaner – state in which it was found.
The log stumps pierce through the white resin tabletops, presenting a mesmerizing slice of history – oh, the stories these trees could tell.
Via: MTH Woodworks
The Topography of Wood and Glass
With living edges facing inward rather than the usual outward aesthetic, Greg Klassen has spanned the gap of his Living Edge Tables with a river of meandering blue glass – even the routed ledge that the glass sits on takes on the appearance of a shallow tidal line.
While the river of glass is smooth and refreshing – the checked, split and heavily grained wood is a landscape of untold mysteries.
Upside Down but Right Side Up
McNabb & Co. Studio created the Dripwood City Table from a variety of scrap woods first sculpted on a bandsaw into abstract city buildings sprouting from cubes of wood. These high-rise structures are laminated together at their bases. Sounds simple enough but that’s just the beginning. The cityscape is literally turned upside down presenting the land base as a tabletop and the skyline as stalactites reaching downward for a totally Goth moment.
Turning the world on its head creates a cityscape that resembles a mass of wooden icicles – totally wild and totally awesome.
The dripping buildings are a complete contrast to the pixelated tabletop frame – luckily there’s a glass center to reveal the topsy turvy world below.
Via: McNabb & Co. Studio
A Cabin by the Sea
With a landscape base of cast concrete and a body of water made from laminated clear glass, the amazing Fjord Coffee Table by Ben Young Sculptor is both elegant and grand. It’s also whimsical – when you look closer and notice the little brown cabin made of cast white bronze positioned on a flattened piece of concrete land.
The layers of glass appear to lap gently against the concrete mountains, and just like real moving water this work of art is a mesmerizing scene.
Unlike real life, here we can see the concrete land formations continuing past the water’s surface, eventually merging with each other. If only we could be like Alice and shrink down and hang out at the cabin for a day.
Via: Ben Young
The Abstracted Table Art of What – You Decide
With a muse in the formations found in mineral, vegetative and animal realms – the Mesa M3 by Javier Olmeda is a composition of nine layers of Maple wood carved individually. The layers are then stacked to create a sculptural table base that is sure to be the center of fascinated conversation.
The shapes themselves are simple, it’s the whole story that’s complex – and Javier has left it up to the viewer to decide what they see. A Giraffe’s spotted skin – or is it a Mangroves’ roots? It is both and neither at the same time – it is what you want it to be. No more, no less.
However you interpret the patterns within the Mesa M3, there is no doubt it will be a focal point in any room that it resides in.
Via: Constructo Digital
The Quirky Quark
This is a fabulous fluid table with seven bulbous legs morphing together to create weird and wonderful voids within the center of the table. Quark by Emmanuel Babled is a complex composition that required a CNC machine to carefully map out its shaping.
While a robot helped create the shape, it’s the master craftsmanship in the finishing that makes this almost liquid formation of solid wood so luxurious.
The tight grain within the wood is a powerful contrast to the curvy Quark.
The Perfectly Puzzling Prism
A table that plays with our idea of space, the Prism Table by Maurie Novak appears to be refracting light as it passes through solid sections of glass – but is it? The only real refracting is that of our imagination because the table actually consists of multiple stretches of colored elastics. Yes, you heard me right!
The elastics stretch from bar to bar of a stainless steel framework and while there is no light refraction going on, there is a glass surface.
Each angle presents a different combination of colors to create a mesmerizing story of continual motion.
The Push Pull of Emotions
As though both sides of the table are pulling away from each other while at the same time bound by the connective tissue of bamboo, the Gradient Matter Coffee Table was designed by Andrei Hakhovich to abstractly emote such feelings as tension, attraction, repulsion and connection.
There is no hardware used in the construction of this table, only wood lap joints.
A plexiglass tabletop creates a bridge between the two walnut sections, allowing the bamboo membranes to visually continue the push/pull story.
Plastic and Wood United
An injection mold process was used to fuse the plastic corners on both the PlasticNature Table and chairs by Pelidesign to the wood surfaces. The effect is quite pony like and I half expect the table legs to start pawing at the ground while a neighing softly whispers through the air.
The Elegance of Elephant Knees
When you think of a table with a solid wood top and steel legs, the idea of creating a crumpled and compressed aesthetic is definitely an out of the box concept. But that pushing of metal boundaries is exactly what Michael Stratmann and Christiane von Savigny did with the Form Table through IGN. The final “Form” takes on the look of elephant legs.
Elevating the Art of Table Art
The magician’s most popular trick is that of elevation and this No Gravity Table by Horm takes that art to a whole new level (pun intended!). I wonder if there’s a magician’s helper under there?
