Spring Furniture Studio

By Ben Temperley


This week I am writing about my experience in Professor Wessel's Furniture Studio class. This is an elective that I found to be well worth the time. I took the class for graduate credit while enrolled as a Master's of Architecture student. Most students take the class for undergraduate credit. It is offered in the spring.

During the first four weeks of class we were asked to build a version of Gerrit Rietveld's "Berlin Chair". Rietveld designed the chair for an exhibition in Berlin in 1923. I would classify the chair design as De Stijl. De Stijl is Dutch for "The Style". It was a movement founded in the Netherlands and lasted from 1917 to 1931. De Stijl was characterized by simple rectangular forms and primary colors along with black and white. Piet Mondrian is a well known De Stijl painter. Our chair designs were to resemble the "Berlin Chair", but we could change the materiality, color, finish, decoration, jointure, and other qualities that we thought appropriate.


My version was made of 3/4" birch plywood. Birch plywood has a smooth finish, tight grain, and cuts cleanly. I could have used oak plywood, but oak is not as smooth and tends to chip when cut. I chose to give my chair a Japanese feel because I like the elegance of Japanese design. I wanted the chair to reflect my personality. I really like art and music, so I stenciled Kanji on the chair that translates as "artist" and "musician". Important to me is my faith in Jesus Christ. I represented this by inlaying three strips of wood that I stained deep red. The stripes are red for the blood Jesus shed. There are three to represent the Trinity. They also represent the stripes on Jesus' back from the scourging He received before being crucified. The Scriptures say "By His stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5) I finished the chair with a clear coat of lacquer.


For the second project we were given the option to design whatever type of furniture we wanted. Students chose coffee tables, end tables, book shelves, etc. I chose to design a music workstation desk. This was my choice because my wife plays piano, and we wanted a place to set up recording equipment. The desk is about 6 feet long to hold an 88-key piano keyboard on one level. There is a second level above the keyboard to hold speakers and a computer monitor. There is ample storage space for various recording equipment. I chose a black and silver color scheme to match the music equipment we have like amps and a pedal board. I used the CNC machine in the blue barracks to cut out the design. That made my life much easier. For the jointure I chose metal dowels and cams.


The chair currently rests in my living room. It matches the color of the room quite well. The desk has been put to good use in my music room. My wife uses it about everyday. I really enjoyed the class, even though it required a lot of work. I am happy to be able to use the projects that I made. Finally, a piece of advice - if you choose paint as a finish, use spray paint if you do not want brush strokes on you project.