Homewood Broaden Design Horizons with a Unique Cantilever Table

“Design is where science and art break even.” This quote by Robin Mathew accurately reflects custom furniture manufacturer Homewood’s latest addition to their Imbiza range: The Cantilever Table.

Originally designed and manufactured for German business tycoons, this table started off with a small sentiment. The clients had fallen in love with a cantilever-style table they had found in Germany. In fact, they loved it so much that they brought it with them in their move to South Africa. Unfortunately for them, it was too small to fit in their dining room and looked a little out of place. This led them to assign Homewood with the task of designing a one-of-akind cantilever-styled table to suit their space.

Considering the large openspace layout of the dining room and its spectacular view, Homewood knew they had to create an equally spectacular table that would boldly occupy the room.

Another thought that Homewood had to take into account was design continuity. Previously, they had designed this client’s bedroom furniture using the Imbiza range as their guide. It was, therefore, only fitting for them to carry this style over into the dining room.

A DARING DESIGN

Merging the Imbiza design style with the cantilever concept translated into what appeared to be a giant ‘boomerang’ in Homewood’s concept sketches. With the client’s enthusiastic approval, Homewood embarked on a rather daunting engineering journey.

Homewood’s biggest challenge arose in the design of the table’s leg structure, since it needed to balance the weight of a large, heavy slab of wood while creating the illusion of the slab floating in space.

Although this design and engineering journey was marked by many failures, Homewood were not willing to accept defeat. After many attempts, success was soon in sight and a truly unique, mastercraft piece was born!

“What this job taught us, was the importance of embracing challenges in order for us to grow as custom furniture designers and manufacturers. Our failures ultimately taught us many things – things that will guide us in the future when we try push more boundaries,” remarked Homewood founder, Ian Perry, when reflecting on this project.

If you have a challenge for these artisanal furniture designers, you are welcome to get in touch with them to discuss how they can help your design idea materialise. www.homewood.co.za