This client was looking for a modern dining table with a very minimalistic aesthetic for their new home being built in Northern Colorado.

For inspiration I drew from other design elements in home and it’s surroundings on Lonetree Reservoir. The shape of the top top gives an easy nod to the lakeside view with a slight boat shape, but the big challenge in this piece was in designing and creating the geometry of the legs. Each of the four individual legs is a triangle that intersects at the top and interlocks with the opposing pair.

Originally I had designed this table with a steel base, but when the client opted for a wood base instead, the challenge became how to interlock the wood legs but still maintain the strength needed to support a table top that would ultimately seat up to eight people.

To achieve this, I hand-cut lap joints where half of each triangle was actually a part of the opposite leg. The final joints, where each half of the base joins the other at the top, was locked together using dovetail keys.

Commonly associated with George Nakashima, a Japanese-American woodworker who made the dovetail key or “Butterfly Joint” popular in the 1950’s, this type of joint is typically used to reinforce cracks in a piece of wood, or, in this case, permanently lock the two halves of the leg assemblies together.

 I selected local urban milled Green Ash for the table because of its strength and grain character. Since the table would be stained black, I wanted a wood with some movement and depth in the grain, to give visual interest, while the density of the Ash made it a perfect choice for the base, since great strength was needed.

Black Ash Modern Dining Table

STYLE

Starting at $16,000

PRICE

Designed for a homeowner in Heron Lakes Golf Community, Berthoud CO

CLIENT