Contemporary boat-shaped dining table with upholstered curved high-back chairs, hand-crafted in locally sourced Flamed Irish beech to suit an existing family home.
Stillorgan, Dublin, Ireland
The table and chairs were a fine furniture commission by a private client that was looking for a unique bespoke design to work in their dining room.
They already had a good idea of the styles they liked, including the boat-shaped table top. After an initial design consultation Handcraft Furnishings provided a range of ideas as options, and then went on to present a finished design drawing for approval.
The dining suite is made from locally sourced Flamed Irish beech, which features a 'flame' pattern in the grain and has darker spalted areas where the wood has weathered over the seasons.
The table itself is designed to seat four people comfortably, with the legs of the table as an important feature. The placement of the legs are as close to the corners of the table as possible for more leg room, and each leg is set at a 45 degree to make the seating area feel more spacious.
Each leg is tapered and made from a single piece of wood, making the table the standard height of 750mm, and is fixed to the frame with mortice and tenon joints for strength.
The table top is butt-jointed, glued and laminated Flamed Irish Beech locally sourced from Galway, the length of which was specified by the client to suit their dining room.
The table surface is finished with a natural satin oil polish, to enhance natural colours of the wood with a pleasant fragrance.
The design of the chairs began with the curved line of the backrest, and a former was made to shape the laminated beech to maintain a uniform appearance for each of the hand-crafted chairs.
The beech timber was cut into fine strips and laminated using resin based glue to maintain the curved shape of the backrest and be structurally strong.
The legs and frame rails of the chairs were made out of single pieces of timber and joined using mortice and tenon joints, and finished with a natural satin oil polish.
Each chair seat has a vented board base shaped to suit the frame, with a firm upholstery foam cushion pad and finished with a durable natural grained covering.
To complement the suite a contemporary sideboard was also designed and hand-crafted from the same Flamed Irish beech.
The top and sides of the sideboard are butt-jointed, glued and laminated Flamed Irish Beech in the same fashion as the table top, and mitre-joined to a solid beech frame.
As a feature detail, the wood surface appearance of the sideboard, has a continuous waterfall effect as the grain matches on the corners and flows down the side of the furniture.
The doors are a flat panel construction, each from a single piece of wood framed with beech rails, mounted with secret hinges and magnetic catches. Each compartment has adjustable beech shelves for flexibility of use.