Product Design Portfolio by Hasib Momand

Hasib Momand Product Design Portfolio

Coffee Table

Introduction: In 2015 I moved to a new, unfurnished apartment and needed to buy some furniture. I did what any sane young professional does–drove three hours to an IKEA and bought myself, among other things, a coffee table which weighed next to nothing and started to decompose as soon as the last pictogram assembly instructions were completed. This table somehow managed to survive four years and four moves. But by the last move, it was barely standing. It was time for a new coffee table. I drove three hours to the closest IKEA but couldn’t bring myself to pay hard earned money to buy garbage once again. Instead, I began sketching ideas for a coffee table that I could build myself. The idea for the coffee table started by first understanding the evolution of the living room. Originally, the fireplace was what people gathered around to socialize in the living room. Later, the television replaced the social aspect of the fireplace. Having neither of those things, I was going to rely on the coffee table to be the anchor of my living space. As such, it needed to feel heavy to command attention so that people would gravitate towards it. The sizing, proportions, and functions embedded within the coffee table became important design considerations in order to make the coffee table worthy of people’s attention and so they would gather around it without resistance. What removes resistance to gathering around a coffee table? The coffee table’s embedded functions which make living and socializing around it easy and pleasurable. It provides people with value. Besides the tangeable and usable functions, a coffee table becomes an anchor purely through the psychology of visuals. To illustrate this point, what did you first look at when you turned to this page? Could it be the visually dominating circle? If so, similarly, a coffee table that ‘feels’ heavy could act as the conductor of the social activity in a living room. Of course, the collection of furniture in any good living space should be considered as a whole, and as a whole, they usually engage our senses, but we’re talking about the central piece of furniture in a living space, the coffee table, so we’ll limit our discussion to that. From time to time, we all get on a spring-cleaning mode, and everytime I’ve done spring-cleaning, I’ve wished there was a specific place for a specific item. At the beginning of the ideation process, I made a list of all the activities I would engage with around the coffee table – creating a program for the table. Sketches on the following pages illustrate a portion of this process. At the end of this exercise it was decided that the table would facilitate reading, sketching, and playing board games, besides the obvious function of a coffee table. As a result, the table top itself is 3 inches thick. Within that thickness, there are slots of varying sizes to accommodate magazines, a tablet, large and small sketch books, slots for writing utensils, as well as playing cards. All these functions are embedded within the top. Below the top are 8 drawers where 60

magazines , board games, coasters, etc can be stored. Together, the top, the sides, and the drawers, create a visually dominating piece of furniture that ‘feels’ heavy. Typically, a coffee table is made to feel light by having either a single top on legs or a top with a bottom shelf that is open on all four sides. By closing the sides and adding drawers, all four sides are solid, creating a composition that ‘feels’ heavy and visually dominating, hence becoming an anchor. The design of the top is mostly inspired by the dining table my host family, the Herdegs, had when I was a high school exchange student. I don’t have good pictures of the table itself, but a couple of pictures are added here with a partial view of the table. The dinning table had two ‘tops.’ About 4 inches below the table top, there was a flange that allowed for things to be stored. In there we kept a dictionary, cook books, sketchbooks, pencils... What I really liked about the table was that it always encouraged sketching and doodling. It allowed for thoughts to extend outside the mind becase drawing tools were readily available. If sketchbooks are readily available, I find it easier to reach for them and draw as opposed to having to get up and find them. Like the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind. What I didn’t like about the dining table’s feature is that it accumulated junk. When specific things have specific places, it makes spring cleaning a whole lot easier and keeps clutter out of your daily life. This need for readily available tools that could be stored neatly within sight in a designated space is where the design of the top 3 inches of the table began. The coffee table now encourages people to reach out for sketchbooks to draw, books to read, and has made game nights a little more joyful with games at hand. Special thanks to Max Wheeler, Jerry Reif, and David Martin at Nebraska Innovation Studio for lending a helping hand, ideating my way out of mistakes, and keeping me safe in the shop by patiently teaching me how to properly operate the equipment. I would also like to thank my exceptionally talented friend Nolan Golgert for being a sounding board on many aspects of this project.

Around the dinning table, is where a lot of growth happened. It was where bad habits were replaced with good ones. It was where education was valued. It was where lots of course corrections were made. It was where a teenager was nurtured and taught the path to higher standards, and to a better future. My hope is that the coffee table takes the baton in a different phase of life.

Design iterations

Final design

Parts and assemblies Table top corner, sandwich detail

Sides are made of baltic birch plywood and walnut sandwich

Table top corner detail walnut and maple board seams are staggered for strength.

Parts and assemblies Top 3/4” walnut panel

Top 1/4” hard maple panel

1” baltic birch plywood core Baltic birch plywood core with drilled holes to help with board alignment during the sandwiching glue-up.

Bottom 1/4” hard maple panel

Bottom 3/4” walnut panel Side panels: 5/8” walnut panel 1/4” baltic birch plywood 5/8” walnut panel

1/8” reveal around and between drawer fronts.

Manufacturing process

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an ting

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Walnut and maple hardwoods are selected for color maching and grain patterns. They are then laid side by side for final board placement. The boards are then milled and made ready for panel glue-up. Boards are glued into panels using dominos to help with alignment during the gluing process. Boards are selected from as few trees as possible. The top and side panels come from one tree, while the drawer fronts come from a different tree.

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the panels

Walnut panels are glued with maple panels. Walnut-maple and maple-walnut panels are glued together with the aid of a press jig made of 2x4 and 2x6 studs. Maple-maple panels are not glued together as they will be glued to the baltic birch plywood at a later stage. The side panels which are made up of walnut and 1/4” baltic birch plywood are sandwiched unsing the same press.

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board layout

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Manufacturing process

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all assemblies

Plywood core for the table top sandwich, drawer boxes, and the internal plywood cage to support drawers are all cut on a CNC milling machine to save time, have exceptionally accurate parts, and be efficient in the use of the plywood sheet. Alignment holes are drilled in all of the boards to aid with gluing the top sandwich (walnut-maple-birch-maple-walnut) and to align all sandwich parts accurately.

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the table top pan

els

Using dowels, the baltic birch plywood is aligned and glued to the bottom walnut-maple boards but not the top walnut-maple boards. This is done so the unglued part can be removed to apply finish to half of what will become the slots. After glue is cured, the bottom glued assembly of the table top is finished with an oil/wax finish (Odie’s oil). Then, the top walnut-maple board is glued to the rest of the assembly, completeng the table top sandwich. Alignment among boards isn’t perfect, so the edges are hand-planed to perfection.

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Manufacturing process

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oldilocks princip le?

Alignment holes cut by the CNC machine between the internal plywood cage for drawers and side panels are somehow off. An unplanned method is used to glue the internal cage to the side panels. As the internal cage is getting glued to the side panels, the mistake is adding a pipe clamp in the middle section where there is no bracing. To make matters worse, this pipe clamp was tightened too much. This creates a bow in the side panels that has to be reversed, patiently, over a week’s time.

blin m e s

ane g the p ls and draw ers

At this stage after many dryfit attemps, the bottom panel is glued to the side panels, and the side panels are glued to the table-top sandwich using epoxy glue. Epoxy is used to fill the inconsistent pocket depth milled at the bottom of the table top to receive the side panels. When epoxy cures, it become structural, and the entire assembly is square. After the gluing is done, sliders and drawers are installed.

the making

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Manufacturing process

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The sense of awe you get when finish is first applied to raw wood and the colors come to life. The sight never gets old. Various finishing products are tested prior to applying the final finish. The final finish uses the Odie’s Oil family of products with the first coat being the Super Duper Everlasting Oil, followed by Odie’s Oil, followed by Odie’s Wood Butter, and finally, Odie’s Wax for that extra protection.

o ry t e v e li

my living room

Thanks to Dave and David who helped me trasport this heavy coffee table from Nebraska Innovation Studio in Lincoln, NE, to my apartment in Omaha, NE, an hour long journey.

the making

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panel

R ev e

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with pip

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p lam

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ling pulls on-site

Final

and prototyp

otype was used Prot for

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Photographs in Context

Details

We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move. We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable. We work with being, but non-being is what we use. Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, 11, by Stephen Mitchell, 1988