Best books on furniture design

[John Loftis]

Howdy folks. I'd like to become better educated on furniture design and was wondering if anyone had recommendations on good reference books.

I'm not really interested in parroting a particular style, but I guess an important part of learning about design is understanding what has already been done. Are there books you like that contain a good overview of numerous important historical styles?

Also, what are your favorite references for designing furniture?

Thanks much. BTW, I did a quick search and didn't see that this question has been asked in the past. If I missed it and it's already asked and answered, my apologies and feel free to post the link.

Best,
John

[Ron Knapp]

How to design and construct period furniture is an excellent source. It covers a wide range of styles and gives many details and drawings.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Design-Construct-Period-Furniture/dp/051702263X


Illustrated Cabinetmaking is another great reference source. This one centers around furniture types (tables, chests and so forth) and then gives examples within the type. I believe this book has been reprinted so you may find it from other sources then the following:

http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Cabinetmaking-Readers-Digest-Woodworking/dp/0762101830

[John Loftis]

Thanks Ron, just ordered them. I was beginning to hear crickets chirp on this thread...

John

[Jim Rimmer]

Thanks Ron, just ordered them. I was beginning to hear crickets chirp on this thread...

John

I don't know what happened but i check SMC daily and I think this is the first time I've seen your thread even though youposted some time ago.

BTW, I see you're in Plano. I lived in Sherman for many years and then in Anna (when it was little) and worked in Mckinney for 17 years.

[John Loftis]

Ironically, I'm from Houston, transplanted up here 5 1/2 years ago. I see you're friends with Steve Jenkins. He has kindly allowed me to borrow his brain on occasion, since mine is too small for woodworking.

Just checked the thermometer outside. It's dropped 4 degrees down to 96 (at 9 PM). Probably only 105 in the garage to mill or not to mill... Bet it's balmy down in Seabrook too.

Hook 'Em (and/or 'Go Owls'),
John

[Earl Kelly]

John,

Concerning Furniture design. First decide what styles you like and search out books on those subjects. Library is a good source as well the Internet.

Don't just look for design books, but also check out any with pictures and descriptions. Specifically look at the dimensions. Some items such as chairs and Desks or Dining tables have certain dimensional ranges they need to stay within, to work well with the human body.

Basic Art Design books and classes are a very good source to understand how Color and Shape/lines can affect the look and feel of a piece. And then you have the Mechanics of construction combined with ergonomic design and limitations of the material. These all come together hopefully with the desired results.

Earl

[David Keller NC]

John - One thought is potentially purchasing George Walker's new LN video on the subject. He also wrote an article for (I think) the June edition of Popular Woodworking. His focus is classical design, but more from the proportional perspective rather than ornamentation. Much of what humans view as proportionally "correct" is based on scaling of the human body, so the information applies regardless of the style.

One other thought is that if you also want a reference on furniture design that's written more from the perspective of finding engineering solutions to hanging drawers, connecting table legs and aprons, etc..., you might consider Taunton's "Practical Design: Solutions and Strategies".

Finally, if you want to go way back to what was used to base much of the design of furniture of the last part of the 18th century (the "golden" age of American furniture, at least from a collector's point of view), you might consider getting a reprint of Chippendale's "Gentleman's and Cabinetmaker's Director" (first published in 1752). The first part of the book has a thorough discussion of the application of classical column orders to the desing of furniture. It has been widely re-printed, so getting a copy should be inexpensive. It's also readily available from a public library.

[Ron Knapp]

Ok another one for you. This one is old but free
Furniture designing and draughting; notes on the elementary forms, methods of construction and dimensions of common articles of furniture (1900)

http://www.archive.org/details/desig...urei00nyearich

[John Loftis]

Ron, those recommendations were great! Thanks much.

The Illustrated Cabinetmaker was a bit of a misnomer... should have been called, "The Casework Bible." That was certainly the best resource I've ever seen for how to build stuff. Fascinating to learn how much solid wood moves and how much of past and current design techniques are guided by potential wood movement. The book had more types of joinery in it than my Taunton's book on Joinery. A bit overwhelming. That reference is going to get seriously dog-eared.

The book on Designing Period Furniture was also a good read. Good, quick overview on the different periods. Fun to get someone's perspective from the 1930's. Tone was certainly more high-brow than it would be in a book written today. Lots of good sketches. I found myself wanting big glossy color photos, but it was certainly worth the $12 I paid for it used.

Best,
John