Incorporating Metal Into Desk Design

[Clark Harbaugh]

A while back I designed an entire office suite for my home office, and the wife has said go forth and spends grotesque amounts of $$ building your dream office. The issue is since then, I've grown enamored with the industrial look of metal incorporated with wood. However, I'm not sure how well my current design lends itself to this design element. So, I figured I'd come here to get your thoughts, comments, snide remarks, or pics of pieces you've done that may inspire a redesign.

Below is the original desk design using 3 species, most likely walnut, mesquite, and sycamore. If I use metal in this particular design, my thought is that I need to eliminate the use of the mesquite to keep the piece from becoming too busy. My first thought is just to wrap the vertical pedestal columns with angle iron, but I'm not too sure how much I'd like that. I started to draw this but wanted to get opinions before I go through too much effort


Desk_Back.jpg

Desk_Front.jpg

Desk_Front_2.jpg

[Jamie Buxton]

I like the contrast between wood and inorganic materials like metal and stone. The contrast emphasizes the beauty of the wood. That said, I think you should do some more noodling about this desk design. Right now it looks like a traditional handmade wood desk, with a couple of steel things band-aided on to it. The steel doesn't look to me like it is part of the design, but rather something scabbed on at the end.

[Jamie Buxton]

I think what I'm seeing is that you have all this traditional wood style. You have frame-and-panel everywhere. That's a style which grew out of the necessity of dealing with wood's hygroscopic expansion. You also have exposed dovetail joinery -- again ostentatiously, hand-made, wood. I'd try dialing all of that stuff back a bit -- like make the panels plywood slabs -- to better balance with the steel.

[Dave Richards]

I agree with Jamie. Metal and wood can look nice together. Just don't make the metal pieces look like an afterthought.

[Clark Harbaugh]

Appreciate the feedback. That's what I've been struggling with and have determined to pretty much start the design from scratch for the very reasons you mentioned.

[Brian Holcombe]

Clark,

I'll be the contrarian, but with the notation that it 'depends'. I think when it comes to the style of furniture you are building you would be better served avoiding metal with exception to possibly hand-made bronze hardware.

I'd certainly pass on incorporating angle-iron into the mix in the way you've described. It will be very difficult to integrate successfully.

You also might take into consideration that the furniture you're building is not likely the only thing in the room. You can use metal in lamps and fixtures and that will look more at home with your furniture.

Your desk appears to be an Arts and Crafts inspiration, which does not (in my opinion) work well with industrial design. Metal is incorporated heavily into arts and crafts, but usually in the way of wrought iron and bronze architectural details.