Major Project. Christopher Birch.
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Contents Page. 3 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 30 32 34 35 36 38 39 40 43 44 45 46 48 52 53 54 58 59
Design Question Environmental & Sustainability Issues. Ocean Plastics. Waste Disposal. Air Pollution. Deforestation. Biodiversity. Areas of Focus. Waste & Recycling. Upcycling. Zero Waste. Linear & Circular Economy. Making a Change. The Future of Design. Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainability. Biomass. News. Deforestation. Tree to Timber. Sawmill. Instagram. Response. Timber Origins. Sapwood. Calculations. News. Sustainable Trees. Eco Trees. Oak Overuse. Timber Selection. Key Incites. Inspiration. Similar Projects. Statement Furniture. Target Market.
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Initial Designs. Detailed Designs. Potential Design. Full Scale Modelling. The Plank. Side Profiles. Coffee Table. Living Rooms. Anthropometrics. Dimension Tests. Models 1:10 Potential Design. Stability. Improved Models 1:10 Models 1:5 Design Relationship. CAD. Final Dimensions. Assembly. Waste in Industry. Products from Waste. Cutting List. Materials Research. Initial Test. Bowl. Pucks. Dominoes. Coasters. Resin Pour Trend. Bow Ties. Finishes. Construction. Costings. Conclusion. Image References. Bibliography.
Please mark this work for content and understanding and not for structure or surface errors of standard written English (spelling, punctuation and grammar) except where these may impede meaning. Contact Disabled Student Support on ext 3964 for further advice if required.
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“Design Question�. How can a zero-waste design influence the processes in which a piece of furniture is made and the usage of the material?
Aim.
To design a bespoke piece of furniture that produces zero waste to show that every part of the material can be used in an effective / practical way.
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Environmental & Sustainability Issues . About.
There are many issues happening around the world currently which need to be fixed but without a world to live in we won’t have a chance to fix them. If we don’t start to look after the environment its future generations that are going to suffer. There are many ways in which we as a society are damaging the planet.
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Ocean Plastics. Ocean Plastics is an issue that has been a problem for many years but only really started to gain public attention in the past few years, with a society shift against one use plastics. The buildup of ocean plastics has a real effect on the environment, mainly for the animals that live in the affected areas. The plastics that are visible on the surface are only the start of the problem, underneath the surface the problem continues. Microplastics and microfibers are the biggest problem for sea life as it is ingested and builds up, this in turn ends up in the food chain.
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Waste Disposal. We live in a time where anything can be replaced and the production of short-lived disposable products are created on mass. One of the biggest issues in current times is the effects that we as a throw-away society is having on the environment. When something gets thrown away and not recycled it will more than likely end up in a landfill site. “England’s landfill sites will be overflowing by 2022”, according to research from The Furniture Recycling Group. (TFRG Team, 2018)
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3. Air Pollution.
Climate change, carbon footprint, greenhouse gasses whatever you want to call it, it all comes under the category of air pollution or at least the effect of it. Air pollution is mainly down to the release of harmful chemicals or gasses into the atmosphere. This doesn’t just effect humans, animals and plants suffer to. “According to the 2014 World Health Organization report, air pollution in 2012 caused the deaths of around 7 million people worldwide.” (Jasarevic, Thomas & Osseiran, 2014).
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4. Deforestation.
Legal or illegal, natural or human whatever the circumstance is deforestation will happen. This usually entails a large area of woodland being destroyed, this can be for a number of reasons. The main reason being to create space for agriculture, usually for life stock or crops. This has only become a problem as new trees are not being planted after the mature trees have being cut down.
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5. Biodiversity.
The term biodiversity meaning biological diversity refers to the variety of life on earth, and measures everything living. Disrupting the biodiversity of an area can be caused in many ways, and as a growing population this is happening more and more. Deforestation, pollution and poaching has a massive effect on the biodiversity of an area. The less of one species in an area or an increase in a species can totally affect how the ecosystem works.
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Although all of these issues are very big, focusing on them all at the same time and trying to incorporate them into a design is not feasible. For this reason, the main area of focus will be on deforestation and waste disposal. These two issues link together quite well and has a lot of momentum to create a product from a problem. Weather this be educate and help make people be more aware of the situation or to combat the situation that is currently happening.
Areas of Focus.
Initial research seems promising, with scope to delve deeper into the problems that have been chosen. The research on the following pages are going to show the path and decisions that have been made to push this project from a design question to reality.
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Deforestation. Waste Disposal.
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Waste & Recycling. As more and more products are being produced so is more and more waste, which if not dealt with properly could lead to some serious consequences in the future. Increase in greenhouse gases, speeding up climate change, polluting the environment and slowly running out of non-renewable fossil fuels are to name but a few. Making a conscious effort to recycle will help reduce the amount of virginal resources used to make products, in turn reducing the effects upon the environment.
“In 2013, for example, recycling efforts prevented 87.2 million tons of waste from going into landfills, which also kept 186 million metric tons of greenhouse gases from polluting the atmosphere.” (Brenner, 2018) This is important as there will become a point where landfills become full and other methods of disposing waste will have to be used. Currently the main disposal method of waste is landfill, one source says that in the UK in “2017 the recycling rate for waste from households 45.7%”. This means the other 54.3% was either sent to landfill, incinerated or used as biomass. This isn’t very good for the environment and the figures for recycling should be much higher. (GOV.UK, 2019)
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Upcycling. One of the ways waste can be recycled is in the form of upcycling. This is the process of taking a waste item and making it into usable functional products, essentially giving it another life. Instead of sending unwanted items to be recycled, first think if they can become useful again, repurposing them into something. This can anything from old suitcases made into a cupboard to an engine made into a coffee table. Creating a new product out of old unwanted materials is what it’s all about.
Although recycling is good for the environment the process to recycle something does use energy that many have come from unrenewable sources, affecting the environment. Whereas, upcycling products uses very little additional resources and is a brilliant way to save materials while helping the environment. One idea that was considered for this project was using other companies off cuts and unwanted wood to make a product. This shows that companies throw out material unnecessarily and they can be used to create a product. Possible making a piece that creates awareness for upcycling and the benefits it has to the environment. However, this idea was scrapped as it was early in on the project and wasn’t sure if it would fit the aim of designing “a bespoke piece of furniture”.
Waste
Upcycle
One idea that was considered for this project was using other company’s off cuts and unwanted wood to make a product. This would show that company’s throw out material unnecessarily and that they can be used to create a product. Possible making a piece that creates awareness for upcycling and the benefits it has to the environment. However, this idea was scrapped as it was early in on the project and wasn’t sure if it would fit the aim of designing “a bespoke piece of furniture”.
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Zero Waste. There are many different examples of zero waste. It can be anything to do with being more efficient and environmentally conscious in the way you live, down to the way something is designed or re-purposed. The main principle of the theory is to minimise and manage the amount of waste that is produced. With the end goal to stop waste getting to landfill, this can be done though recycling, reusing products as well as being more conscious when designing. When trying to design a zero waste product every small step will have to be thought about. Things such as, “Processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them� (Wikipedia, 2018). This approach to designing really draws on the environmental and sustainability aspects of the industry. Unlike with previous projects where the left overs or discarded materials weren’t thought about, this time they have to be reused or processed into another product.
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Linear & Circular Economy. Back in the 20th century the linear economy system was very successful and produced a lot of revenue for many companies. However, in the new millennium the ‘take – make – dispose’ styled design method is not sustainable. This method depends on a large amount of raw materials and energy to be easily accessible. The linear economy doesn’t think about what happens to products at the end of their lives. Products are left to go to landfill and the consequences are not thought about. This method of designing is becoming a thing of the past due to growing concern for the environment and the introduction of the Paris Agreement in 2016. The piece of furniture that will be produced for this project will think about the environmental impact it has, what will happen at the end of its life and be waste conscious. This kind of thinking is much better linked to the circular economy method of design. A circular economy is a continuous process when a product such as a piece of furniture is created and all aspects of its life are thought about. Production, distribution, use, disposal are all parts of the circle which all link back to the start or part way though. This creates a continuous sustainable circle that when the product comes to the end of its life, it can start a new life of a product. Working in this way means fewer virginal resources have to be used to create a product, making the product eco-friendlier.
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Making A Change.
In 2015 the sustainable development goals (STG) where set up, within the same year the Paris Agreement, to tackle climate change on a global scale. This created a driving force for many companies to change some aspects of their business. All of these companies are making a positive impact on the environment. This includes creating net positive strategies, making sustainable designs and materials, focusing on circular economy. Creating awareness of their customers lifestyle upon the environment through a footprint calculator. (Katharine Earley. 31 October, 2017) Things such as creating an awareness and choosing suitable materials for this project will be key for the zero-waste focus.
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New technologies, new materials and new ways of manufacturing, have shaped the design industry in many ways over the years. Making products smarter, lighter more efficient, speeding up manufacturing processes are all things that have help many companies succeed within the design industry. But with this comes a cost, the lack of consideration to the environment over the years has created and whole host of problems. Climate change, landfill sites becoming too full and a sea of plastic to name but a few. The future of design needs to look more at sustaining and help the environment. Things such as biodegradable products, zero waste products and recycling old products to create alternative solutions to already existing products, not making new ones. This is why the design industry needs to take action, they influence how the future of the environment is affected. The more products / companies that design with the environment in mind the more it will become the norm. Through doing this it will educating more people on the importance of sustainable design. Slowly this is becoming more of a USP for products, making a statement out of sustainability. Showing that the type of people that buy their products are conscious of the environment and what happens to it. With this in mind the piece of furniture that is going to be designed might favour from being quite bold, making a statement about the environment and suitability. Either through the design or the story it tells.
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The Future of Design
Sustainable Development Goals. Built of the success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) that started in 2000, the new SDG where set to tackle the new issues that had developed over the 15 years. Also known as Global Goals the set of 17 areas of issue range from ‘gender equality’ to ‘zero hunger’ and ‘no poverty’ to ‘climate action’. Amazingly in some way or another they are all interlinked, so helping one area intern will help another. Goal 12 “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.” Goal 15: “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.” Out of the 17 goals, these are the most relevant to the zero-waste project and its issue that it’s trying to address. Although it’s only a small project in the scale of things, doing this will hopefully make people more aware of their impact on the earth. United Nations Development Programme This is the logo of the company that helped to implement the goals over 170 different countries.
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Sustainability. What.
Support.
Status.
In its broadest term sustainability means “the quality of being able to continue over a period of time”. (Cambridge Dictionary. 2018) Using this in environmental terms it means not damaging the ecosystem, making sure that trees are replenished once cut down. If done correctly trees can be a sustainable resource, that can be harvested just like crops.
Companies like the Rainforest Alliance and FSC help to support sustainable forestry. Meaning they look at forestry from an environmental perspective to try and imitate natures natural patterns to keep an environmental balance. There will always be a demand for timber and these companies know that, while not trying to stop it. They are simply coming up with a solution to the ever-growing demand.
Currently “Each year we lose 32 million acres (13 million hectares), 26 times the size of the Grand Canyon, or 60 acres per minute. To regenerate the resources we already are consuming, we would need 1½ Earths, yet our demand is still growing. No matter how you slice it, the maths just doesn’t add up. Our current consumption levels cannot be sustained”. (Rainforest Alliance. 2016)
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Biomass. Biomass is a renewable source of energy that is formed of waste that has come from animals and plants. This can be converted into biofuel and biogas which can be used like normal energy sources. Wood, food waste, animal waste and landfill gases are all examples of waste that can be used for biomass.
In a perfect world all the waste from industry would go to a biomass energy plant to be turned into electricity, which would then power the tools and equipment to make furniture. In turn making a nice sustainable loop. (Philip, 2017) (U.S Energy Information Administration, 2018)
On the whole biomass fuels are very clean compared to traditional fossil fuels, it is also a sustainable way of creating energy from waste. Using wood as a biomass material is one way in which the waste from trees can be used more effectively. The way biomass produces energy is the same way a traditional coal powered station would. The biomass is sent into a furnace heating the overhead water pipes, which then produces steam. This then turns a turbine which is connected to a generator producing energy. A bi-product of the burning process is ash, this can then can be used for other applications.
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News. “One football pitch of forest lost every second in 2017” (Carrington, Gutiérrez, Kommenda & Levett, 2017)
1. 100. 365.
Every day an area the size of New York City was lost.
In 100 days an area the size of Scotland was lost.
Within one year an area the size of Italy was lost.
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Data taken from the ‘global forest watch’ (Carrington, Gutiérrez, Kommenda & Levett, 2017) shows that over the course of 2017 the total deforestation adds up to the size of Italy. This is the second worst period since records started in 2001, and a large contribution of this is done illegal. There are many reasons why the deforestation rates are so high this past year, but mainly down to global trade. The increase demand for soy and palm oil drives farmers to cut down major parts of forests to gain more space to grow. Some of the most affected areas are Columbia, DRC, Indonesia, Brazil and Russia. This makes knowing where the timber comes from all the more important. Having a sustainable illegitimate source of timber is key to this project. So, using something that has been imported could create a real issue if not 100% FSC or ethically sourced. Due to this it makes senses to use a timber that is grown and sourced locally. However, this doesn’t just affect this project, it affects everyone. When importing timber there is always a risk that the company isn’t getting it legally. It may be cheaper but at the cost of the environment.
2017.
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Using information compiled of ‘Climate Policy Info Hub’ (Tuerk & Fazekas, 2017) ‘Deforestation’ (“Wikipedia”, 2018) and the ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ (United Nations, 2018) the level of deforestation across the world becomes apparent.
About surface
Deforestation. 31%
31% of Earth’s land is covered by forests.
61%
As a result of deforestation, only 6.2 million square kilometres remain of the original 16 million square kilometres of forest that formerly covered the Earth. According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat, the overwhelming direct cause of deforestation is agriculture. Subsistence farming is responsible for 48% of deforestation; commercial agriculture is responsible for 32%; logging is responsible for 14%, and fuel wood removals make up 5%. Deforestation is a contributor to global warming, and is often cited as one of the major causes of the enhanced greenhouse effect. Tropical deforestation is responsible for approximately 20% of world greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change deforestation, mainly in tropical areas, could account for up to one-third of total anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. But recent calculations suggest that carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (excluding peatland emissions) contribute about 12% of total anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Around 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihood, including 70 million indigenous people.
48%
14% 32% 5%
20%
12%
21% 80%
Forests are home to more than 80% of all terrestrial species of animals, plants and insects.
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Graphs.
Deforestation is happening all over the world and it doesn’t just affect the environment, it effects humans and animals as well. Many people depend on it, whether this be for food, homes, water or oxygen. The forests do a lot for the planet they keep it cool, prevent flooding, prevent soil erosion, block the wind and reduce noise pollution among many other things (McLendon, 2014). Deforestation isn’t just caused by the illegal logging industry; the main source is actually caused the agricultural industry, clearing land for crops and livestock. When it comes to the UK, the government is fairly strict when it comes to cutting down trees, there either needs to be a reason and usually needs to be FSC certified. For this reason, the focus of timber wastage within the UK is due to the sawmills and or the company and people working with the timber. This will hopefully become more apparent with further research.
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Tree to Timber. The processes that go into making a piece of furniture takes a long time, especially from start to finish. A tree can take many years to reach maturity, add in all of the processes to get the timber into a useable state and then having to make a piece of furniture, the years slowly add up. But before making anything the tree has to go through several steps, these are as follows.
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Felling.
This is the process of cutting down trees, this can be done either by a chainsaw or a specialised vehicle. The branches and leaves are cut off leaving just the trunk (or log). In a correctly managed forests only the mature trees will be harvested, leaving room for the younger trees to grow. The trees that have been cut down should then be replaced with saplings to create a sustainable process. Deforestation happens when all the trees are cut down in a large area and not replaced by anything.
Storage.
The next stage the logs are left in plies, this allows for of the water content inside the tree to evaporate. This reduces the weight meaning transports is slightly easier.
Transport.
This can either done on a lorry and driven to the sawmill or in specific cases can be floated down river using the currents to get it to a sawmill next to the river.
Sawmill.
Once there, the logs are cut to length and then cut into planks using a large bandsaw. The two common methods are called ‘through and through’ or ‘quarter sawn’. How the tree is planked causes the grain to look different, this also changes how the planks reacts to its environment.
Drying.
This is the longest process as it has to be done gradually. There are several ways to dry the planks but the two most common types are air dying and kiln drying. Air takes longer to do but is cheaper and makes the plank easier to work with. Whereas kiln is quicker and more efficient as you can regulate the temperature, but prone to getting splits and checks due to the quicker drying speed. (International Timber, 2015) (Ryan, 2011) (Wikipedia, 2018)
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Start.
Finish.
Sawmill. At this stage the tree has only its branches. The trunk then gets cut into planks and this is where the issue of waste begins. The ‘through and through’ cutting method produces the least amount of initial waste as it is a simple cross section cut. Generally, when it comes to how much of the plank is useable, the heartwood to sapwood ratio decreases the further you get from the centre. Whereas using the quarter saw cutting method wastes more in the initial cutting process as all of the trunk isn’t used. Cutting it this way leaves the planks only with sapwood or waney edge as it is also know as down one edge.
“The main problem lies when the boards are cut down to size, as they all have to of a similar width. Meaning excessive amounts of waste are produced to create a uniform size.”
To try and get some industry insight into what happens at a sawmill I reached out to Wildwoods sawmill in Peover. Talking to owner, James he was able to give an insight into how a sawmill operated. Asking him about timber waste and where the majority of it comes from, he said that that he thinks that “The main problem lies when the boards are cut down to size, as they all have to be of a similar width. Meaning excessive amounts of waste are produced to create a uniform size”. This isn’t too much of an issue at Wildwoods sawmill as it was fairly small, but bigger sawmills sell planks at standard sizes. He also went on to say that sometimes part of the log has to be cut off due to the sawmill machines needing a flat surface to keep the log stable during the cut. In this instance there is no escaping the waste, as it’s a health and safety issue.
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Instagram.
To get a better understanding of the furniture industry and what business do with their waste a number of questions where compiled. These questions where then sent out to furniture makers: 1) What is your most used hardwood? 2) On average what % of a plank is usable in your furniture? (e.g. do you cut away sap wood, knots, shakes etc.) 3) What do you use your off cuts for? The response from Instagram was good with 10 people replying to the messages sent. These accounts ranged from 1,700 followers all the way up to 128,000 followers. Instagram is a fantastic platform for showcasing furniture, the accounts that where sent messages where all bespoke furniture makers from all over the world. This is the type of furniture that is aimed to be produced by the end of the project. (Please spelling taken
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note the words and for this piece have been directly form Instagram)
Response. 1) Most used hardwood would be Oak.
1) For my collection, I use British Elm. It’s a complex and often difficult to use timber, but it has the most wonderful deep grain quality when it’s oiled up. It’s also a little rarer now, so has a the benefit of being a little unusual. The other timber I use a lot is Oak, and that’s mainly because clients like it. The 3rd most popular is Walnut, but it is more expensive. Other timbers I use are Maple, Cherry, Mahogany and Iroko, but only in smaller quantities.
2) Depends on the project but I allow a 20% wastage factor if it has a wany edge and a 10% wastage factor if it is straight edged. 3) All offcuts are cut into usable strips for future projects or smaller chopping boards. We try to have as little waste as possible but some off cuts (if they are 100% sap will be burnt).
2) Very little. I buy 2” (50mm) planks that are rough sawn (not planed flat). Only the main trunk is turned into planks, so you can imagine that around half the tree will be cut away before it’s even planked. The first thing I do is plane the boards flat, and that takes them down to about 45mm thick, so that’s 10% of the timber I bought in the waste already. I then draw on and measure the timber to see how my components will fit in. I’ll maybe be able to use something around 1/2 to 2/3rds of the flattened timber for components, and I’ll be left with the sapwood and any smaller pieces that aren’t big enough for other stuff. I then need to cut the components to size (they’re per size at this stage) and machine and shape and joint them. I would estimate that, when all’s said and done, about 2030% of the timber I by makes it onto the completed piece. And this is from a planked timber that represents only half the tree to start with. So…..maybe 10% from ‘in the ground’ to ‘in the table’. Nuts, eh?
1) I predominately use American White Oak. Its beautiful patterned grain and light appearance seem to work well with my designs. 2) I’d say I would use around 90% of boards. There is always end splitting which is cut away but I generally use the rest of the boards including sapwood. Board are arranged (a dining table for example) by grain direction, and also if there’s a large unsightly knot id generally put that to the underside of the table. 3)
Firewood
and
breadboards.
1) 2) 3)
FSC Heating
the
Oak 90% workshop
1)
Oak
and
Walnut
European
2) For our furniture we do tent to discard defects like, shakes, sap wood and knots. We allow close to 30% of waste when making a piece of furniture.
3) I use off cuts for making my smaller pieces like my coffee scoops and stirrers and caddies. I also use pieces for making jigs to machine other things, or I use them on the saw to make sure the back side of my cut is neat. I also keep a lot of off cuts, and I end up using them here and there for random stuff. Everything that’s too small, or sappy, or split, or ugly goes into the wood waste, and my brother burns it on his open fire. Saw dust collected from the machines (this can be quite a lot of wood, as the saw blade is 3mm thick, so imagine loads and loads of 3mm thick slices of wood turned into dust) is recycled in compost bins and gardens. So non-is put to landfill, but very little makes it into the furniture.
3) We use our best offcuts to make small items which we sell on our online or Etsy shop. 1)
Blackwood
(Acacia
melanoxylon)
2) after docking Tasmanian split ends, defects, then material lost planing/ thicknessing, I would guess I am left with 80% 3) 50% of offcuts are used for model making, spoon carving, wedges etc. 50% is firewood. Shavings from thicknesser and planer go to nearby farm for compost.
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Response. 1) The orders currently is
we
get for
the most WALNUT.
1) I use Ash woof mostly because it has a beautiful grain that is really defined once I apply my finish.
2) On average we utilize about 80-85% of the typical non-defected board. We do not cut away sap, it’s always a case-bycase with knots and cracks. We epoxy fill a lot of our voids and knots too. Always depends on what we think is necessary, but I tend to like including some knots.
2) I always use all of the wood. I don’t cut away knots or shakes or anything. I try to be very particular when choosing my wood so there’s no waste. I actually like having knots in my pieces. It reminds the viewer that these pieces are made from wood
3) Cut offs, scrap, offcuts can be used for a variety of things. Thinner strips coming off of a milled rip cut can be turned into reliable door and drawer spacers for mounting, glued up to be coasters. Thicker unmilled offcuts with less than 4” of length provide little value to build with, but we can easily cut all our wooden plugs from these end of board scraps. Slightly longer end board offcuts longer than 6-8” and wider than 2” can be milled and laminated to become legs. Most of our legs are between 2” - 1-3/4” wide. We also sometimes ‘brick’ our panels for the interior/less visible parts. Meaning, we try to utilize boards that aren’t quite longer enough for any given panel and ‘brick’ them into a panel. The purist old world furniture makers would probably scoff at this practice, but we aren’t much for traditional thinking in my shop. We are always looking to adapt, evolve and learn new skills in order to better help the company and our own personal value. Aside from that, we try our best to stay very organized with scraps and offcuts. Never know when a certain size will be perfect for any given situation.
3)
Unanswered
1)
walnut
2) I would say 90% is used. I try to showcase and highlight the defects. 3) I use the offcuts for bowties, serving boards, wedges, sanding blocks, or firewood, depending on size.
Summary.
Looking thought the responses the predominant timbers that get used are walnut and oak, with roughly 80% of each plank getting used. However, some makers said they buy pre-cut planks without sap on as this reduces wastage. This might be the case for reducing waste within the workshop but the sapwood still has to be cut off at the sawmill. The offcuts get used for things such as heating the workshop, prototyping / modelling, small miscellaneous items to sell and being reused in other projects for bow ties.
1) walnut, white oak, then cherry in that order. Walnut being the most used. 2) naturally at least 5” on each end of any given board needs to get cut off. That is roughly 1/8th of an average 8 ft board. I’d say realistically 80% gets used. If there are knots or a lot of sap on 1 side, we save those boards for jobs or parts where the sap or knots are hidden. Rather than trying to cut them out 3) usable scraps are saved. We make serving trays, cutting boards, etc around the holidays. Other scraps get used for other projects (leg parts or prototyping, etc)
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Timber Origins. “The UK is the second largest net importer of timber just behind China in 2016”. (Forestry Commission, 2018)
Production of wood products in the UK included: 3.8 million cubic metres of sawnwood (+3%) 3.2 million cubic metres of wood-based panels (+5%) 3.9 million tonnes of paper and paperboard (+5%) 0.3 million tonnes of wood pellets and briquettes (-15%)
The UKs timber trade is on the rise with a much more timber being imported into the country in 2016 – 2017. This is the latest data available to the public at this given time the 2017 – 2018 report will be realised on the 26th September 2019. However, looking back at older reports and what the current news is saying about the lack of trees been planted within the past year, it can only assume that the import percentage will have risen again. Knowing where timber has come from is a must, it effects quality, price and sometimes if it has been ethically logged.
Removals (harvesting) of UK roundwood: 10.9 million green tonnes of softwood (+2%) 0.5 million green tonnes of hardwood (-10%) Deliveries of UK roundwood to wood processors and others: Total: 11.0 million green tonnes of roundwood (softwood and hardwood) (unchanged), of which:
The majority of the UKs timber come from Europe (87%) with 60% of all wood and wood products coming from Scandinavia. Within the 87%, Europe supplies 98% of soft wood but only 57% of hardwoods, the rest come from North America (20%), Africa (12%) and Asia (9%). (Timber Industry Fact Sheet Final, 2017)
Sawmills: 6.6 million green tonnes (+1%) Wood-based panels: 1.1 million green tonnes (-15%) Integrated pulp and paper mills: 0.4 million green tonnes (+4%) Other uses, including round fencing, wood fuel, shavings and exports of roundwood: 2.9 million green tonnes (+4%)
Using timber that has been imported from another country doesn’t feel like it fits the eco suitability aspects of this project. Using lots of resources to get the timber out of the country of origin, ship it over to the UK, for it then to be taken to a sawmill to then be machined. This sounds like it would use a lot energy, whereas finding a local sawmill would make much more sense.
UK imports: 7.6 million cubic metres of sawnwood (+14%) 3.8 million cubic metres of wood-based panels (+12%) 6.9 million cubic metres of wood pellets (+2%) 6.8 million tonnes of pulp and paper (-4%)
This information taken from ‘Forestry Statistics 2018 Chapter 2: UKGrown Timber’ shows the statistics for the UK in 2017 with percentage change from the previous year.
The total value of wood product imports was £7.9 billion (+6%) UK exports: The total value of wood product exports was £1.9 billion (+26%)
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Sapwood. Sapwood, this is the part of the tree that gets cut off, usually identified by its lighter colour in comparison to the rest of the timber. For woodworkers this is pretty useless and is discarded as it has a habit of shrinking and moving a lot more when dried. Some sapwood also becomes very brittle, flaky and has a tendency of being a lot softer than the heartwood. For these reasons it is seen as waste material that degrades the quality of the timber. However, for the tree sapwood is very important and every tree has it. it is a vital part if the internal structure of the tree which helps it grow. The sapwood is there to transport all the nutrients around the tree. The sapwood is produced in the cambium layer just below the bark, as the tree grows more sapwood is produced. Over time the innermost layers of sapwood begin to die and that is what creates the heartwood.
This is the section that is typically used in the construction of furniture. Young trees are practically all sapwood for many years as they need to grow and send nutrients around the tree most efficiently. As the tree gets older the sapwood to heartwood ration will go down as they have reached maturity and the growth rate can slow down. The plank that will be used for this project will have the sapwood still on, showing that it can still be used even if it is seen as waste material to the majority of woodworkers. As long as it doesn’t majorly effect anything there shouldn’t be a problem with leaving it on, it’s a natural part of the timber and adds character to the furniture. A typical plank of timber cut from an adult tree will usually has 50/60mm of sapwood on each edge taking into to consideration the angle at which it grew.
Heartwood. Dark. Sapwood. Light.
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Total height = 90ft = 27.432m = h Usable height = 90ft = 27.432m - 7m = 20.432m Usable part of tree = bottom 20m, top 7m will be branches. Using the statistics from (Timber Industry Fact Sheet Final, 2017) and (Patterson & Doruska, n.d.) a set of rough of rough calculations where performed. Basing the calculations off the average data within the graph highlight red. This set of calculations was set out to establish how much of the UK timber production would be wasted if everyone where to cut off 60mm of sap each side of a plank. The calculations worked on the basis that only the bottom 20m is useful timber as the top will be branches. This part of the tree would still be used for things like chippings, manufactured boards and wood pulp. The main figures that needed are: UK combined production at 11,400,000 tonnes (timber fact sheet) Average tree 90ft (middle Sap of
a
at
of of
22 the
inches by data set)
60mm each plank (industry
side incite)
Note - imperial tons (US) has been converted to metric tonnes (UK)
Radius including sap = 0.2794m (22inch = 55.88cm = 0.5588m / 2) Radius excluding sap = 0.2194m (55.88cm - 12 = 43.88cm = 0.4388m / 2) Total Tree = 6.7275m3 (π x 0.2794m 2 x 27.432m) Top 7m (not usable for planks) = 1.7167m3 (π x 0.2794m 2 x 7m =) Core (timber without sapwood) = 3.01m3 (20.432m x 0.2194m 2 x π =) Sapwood = 2m3 (0.2794m 2 x π x 20.432 = 5.01 - 3.01 =) Total tree = 6.7275m3 = 2.966857 Tonnes 11,400,000 / 2.966857 = 3,842,450.11 Trees at 22inch by 90ft 1m3 = 0.4410 Tonnes Top = 1.7167 = 0.7570647 x 3,842,450 = 2,884,323.57 Usefull = 3.01 = 1.32741 x 3,842,450 = 5,100,506.55 Sapwood = 2 = 0.8820 x 3,842,450 = 3,389,040.9 = roughly 11,400,000 after rounding of numbers, which is the total uk production.
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Calculations. Tops 25.3592%
Tops 2,884,323 Tonnes
Usefull 44.8440%
Usefull 5,100,506 Tonnes
Sapwood Waste 29.7967%
Sapwood Waste 3,389,040 Tonnes
Total UK Production 100%
Total UK Production 11,400,000 Tonnes Roughly 11,400,000 after rounding of numbers, which is the total uk production.
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News. ‘There is no oak left’: are Britain’s trees disappearing? (Harvey & Laville, 2018) This from
is The
a headline Guardian in
taken 2018.
Numbers of oak trees within Britain are declining, so much so that the oak we are using today was planted in the Victorian era. The last several years has seen a falling number of oak trees planned, especially with the intention to be used as timber. “We are now using the oaks our ancestors planted, and there has been no oak coming up to replace it, soon there will be no oak left in England.” says Mike Tustin (chartered forester at John Clegg and Co, the woodland arm of estate agents Strutt and Parker).
Despite the government incentives, such as grants the rate at which new forests being planted remain particularly low across England. With the price of land being so high and the time in which it takes trees to reach maturity, it really puts people off starting to plant a forest. With this knowledge in mind it would be foolish to use English oak as a primary source of timber for this project.
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Sustainable Trees. On a whole, trees are a sustainable source of material. However, there are some that don’t fall into this category. Trees that are on the CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora) list, are not suitable sources of timber as they are endangered and need to be preserved to keep the species alive. This can be down to a number of reasons such as a disease, over felling or they only grow in one location causing limited numbers. These trees are generally exotic woods, for example African Blackwood, Monkey Puzzle and Loulu. (Greentumble, 2016) This means there is quite a lot of freedom when it comes to choosing a timber. Though CITES isn’t the only thing that has to be taken into consideration. To make sure that the timber that is being used won’t affect the environment, the FSC logo should be present. This shows that it has come for a sustainable source. Through researching there have been a number of sources that keep presenting the same results of good sustainable trees, these are:
Oak. Ash. Maple. Black Cherry. (Kolich, 2017) (Pengelly, 2016) (Macwoods, 2016)
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Eco Trees. All trees help the environment, they filter the air pollution that we produce and are a key part of our existence. This process is called photosynthesis and every tree does it. Absorbing carbon dioxide, creating nutrients for the tree and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere. However, there are trees that absorb and store carbon dioxide better than others. This helps to offset the carbon footprint that everyone produces. These trees are seen as the best for helping the environment. These trees would be good for this type of project as it fits within the sustainability eco aspects that this project is trying to express.
Oak. Pine. Silver Maple. Yellow Poplar. London Plane. Black Walnut. Horse-Chestnut. (Jacobs, 2016) (Earth Talk, 2018) (Norris, 2017)
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Oak overuse. Nowadays it’s nearly impossible to go into a building without seeing a piece of oak furniture. Granted oak is a lovely timber, with fantastic qualities making it idea to make furniture out of. However, the extensive use of the timber has created a market full of oak furniture. Doing a quick Google search for the furniture made from timbers mentioned in the previous pages, you can see that oak is the second highest result and Its no real shock to see it so high on the list Another reason why, this timber will not be used within the project. This would also be adding to the ever-growing amount oak furniture on the market. It’s everywhere and making a piece of furniture out of a different timber will set it apart from the norm. Over time the constant use of oak will eventually have an impact on the production of products as well as the cost. As more oak gets used, the less trees are available, especially within Britain. Oak is a slow growing tree and the demand of timber outweighs the speed at which it grows.
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Google Results Pine Oak Cherry Maple Walnut Ash. London Plain Poplar Horse Chestnut
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468,000,000 413,000,000 409,000,000 270,000,000 238,000,000 149,000,000 23,400,000 16,300,000 6,780,000
Timber Selection. The timber chosen for the project is quite crucial as it needs to fit within the certain requirements: Be one of the sustainable or eco trees that has been researched on previous pages. Native to England. Be from a suitable source or have reason for being cut down. Have character. This was a fairly easy task as all of the timbers listed are grown within England. This means none of the timbers will have to be imported meaning it will likely come from a sustainable source. Oak has been ruled out as it would be adding to the never-ending pieces of oak furniture within the market. So, the real choice is down to the aesthetics of the timber and how much character it has, meaning this will be subject to opinion. Pine, Maple, Cherry and Poplar will not be used as they don’t have that stand out quality appearance which a bespoke piece of furniture needs to have. The following timbers are what could be used in the project:
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1. Ash. 2. London Plane. 3. Walnut. 4. Horse-chestnut.
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1. 2. 50.
3. 4. 51.
Key Incites. Looking back over the research there has been a lot of information covered that has informed many decisions throughout the project. Some research was there to help to get a better understanding of the area in which this project is focused and the surrounding issues that affect it. Where other parts where driven by choices that had to be made to progress the project. Some of the key points / stages within the research phase that motivated and influenced the direction in which this project went where: Setting the area of focus within the deforestation and waste disposal. Finding out that an area the size of Italy was lost due to deforestation 2017. Finding out that the rate at which we are using / cutting down trees vs the amount we are planting is not a suitable way of living, even though trees are a sustainable source. Getting first-hand information about how sawmills operate and the fact they think the waste is being produced due to creating uniform thickness, length and width. Doing some rough maths to work out the level of wastage if everyone cut the sapwood off the tree. 3,389,040 tonnes of sapwood waste out of the 2016, 11.4 million tonnes of timber produced in the UK. That oak is one of the most popular hardwoods and the fact that the UK is running out of it. The timber that gets used for this project must be from a sustainable source or be FSC. The timber choices for this project are narrowed down to Ash, London Plain, Walnut or Horse Chestnut.
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Inspiration.
The inspiration for this project goes back to placement year when looking for somewhere to work. Searching for jobs and designers within Cheshire area, a man by the name of Garry Olson came up. A brilliant furniture designer that has many years of experience. Unfortunately, unable to take on a student he recommended reading a book called ’OneTree’ written by himself, Garry Olson and Peter Toaig. His book follows the journey of an oak tree that was felled, planked and given to seventy leading designers across the UK. The designers then created products from each part of the tree that they were given. The products ranged from the very basic such as coal to functional benches, medical instruments, toys and many more. Feeling inspired by the work he had done and the design ethos he had created, I wanted to portray that kind of thinking into this project. This project will use one plank of timber and will leave nothing to waste. Creating a piece of furniture that has zero waste and has little impact to the environment as possible. Showing that every part of the timber can be used, and so the ‘one plank project’ was created. This is the piece of furniture that Garry Olson produced for the ‘OneTree’ book. This chest of drawers is made up of oak, bog oak, epoxy resin and oak veneer on birch ply.
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Similar Projects. There are so many possibilities of design in the eco area, whether this is using old materials, using a new sustainable composite or developing a more efficient way of making something. Although all new pieces of furniture developed should think about the environmental factors, some designers turn it into its defining feature or selling point.
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Robert Brain.
Taking trees that are destine for the chipper and turning them into furniture. Everyday there are trees that are being felled locally, Robert decided to save one and give it a purpose rather than it being turned into chippings. Each piece of furniture has a location of where it grew and a date it was felled, Robert says “Sustainability is not my main motivation because that should inform everything, whatever you’re doing. For me, I’m more invested in the wood when I know where it’s come from” Robert Brain - (Ivill, 2018). However, this is a good sustainable example of furniture making. Knowing that the timber is sources ethically and where it comes from would be a nice addition as it would create a story to the project.
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Glenn Catchpole.
Inspired by zero waste Glenn designed a chair using new experimental fungi called mycelium, this paired with a layer of veneer created a functional chair. The fungi is grown and moulded into the shape of the chair leaving minimal waste. The waste that is produced is then used as compost for the new batch of fungi, creating a sustainable process cycle. Reusing the waste is something that this project is going to need assess as there will be offcuts and sawdust produced. As a zero-waste project the aim will be to use all of the excess up in a practical form. The sawdust could possibly be compressed into a cork like material or mixed with something else so it is used up.
Šimon Kern.
Making use of natural waste and bio degradable resins Šimon was able to create a chair made from leaves and tubular steel. Using leaves and bio degradable resins means if the seat gets broken, it can be disposed back to where it came from. This will then supply the ground with nutrients as the leaves where originally going to do. Using products like resins and finishes that are sustainable / eco-friendly will link to this project nicely. Products that don’t affect the environment will be considered throughout this project.
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Seungji Mun.
Designed to minimize industrial waste, Seung ji created a minimalistic chair from 2 sheets of standard international sized plywood. Using the lowest amounts of cuts possible, the whole sheet and steam bending, Seung ji designed a zero waste chair. This is something that should be thought about when it comes to the design of this project. Creating something that has minimal cut reduces the energy used to produce the furniture, in turn being more sustainable.
Piet Hein Eek. Working in collaboration with IKEA a limited batch of chairs and tables where made with the timber that would have been thrown out due to defects like knots. The project embraced that every chair and table wasn’t going to be the same which is something that isn’t commonly done with companies like IKEA. Using timber that was otherwise going to be thrown out makes the design more sustainable and eco-friendly. This is something that this project is going to highlight, everything can be used including the sapwood and bark which is usually deemed as ugly and useless. If every part of the design is natural as it can be its going to have a wonderful character about it which most manufactured pieces of furniture loose. The fact that the furniture has problems and defects shows its natural and is going to be unique even if there are multiple of the same design.
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Statement Furniture. Statement furniture is about expressing design in a bold way, having that stand out character to the design. This can be done in many different ways, for example using bright colours, interesting materials, strange shape or simply being bigger or smaller than it meant to be. All of these features create individuality to each piece of furniture. They are there to spark conversation, think in a new way about design and to create a focus point in a room. They won’t appeal to everyone, but they’re not meant to, they fit in a niche market.
This is something that would be good for this project as having a bold presence will hopefully provoke conversation and help people to become more aware about waste. Producing a piece of furniture that has unusual characteristics or size to it will set it apart from other designs, making it a focus point within a room.
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Acorn is a consumer classification data collection company, that produces very helpful documents that help to understand and analyse the consumer. They take data and break it down into personas which are then set into categories. Each persona has a summary of what a person would be like, as well as a graph with information that is comparable against other personas. Looking at Acorns ‘Household User Guide’ that looks at number of different factors ranging from tax rate (sometimes gives a good indication how much money they have) to whether or not they smoke. This is all potted on a graph that shows the national average and shows if that person would be above or below. Within this document there are 5 categories and 57 personas that essentially sum up everyone within the UK.
Target Market. 1. Affluent Achievers 2. Rising Prosperity 3. Comfortable Communities 4. Financially Stretched 5. Urban Adversity
Due to the nature of this project, the use of materials, the quality of the work that is going to be produced means that the price tag is going to be on the higher end. This in turn will only attract a certain type of clientele to the piece of furniture. The type of people that buy one off bespoke pieces of furniture are likely to appreciate the craftsmanship and effort that goes into making it. This generally tends to be the middle-aged generation and upwards, they have disposable income and a larger home to accommodate the furniture. With this in mind, the affluent achiever category seams to best fit the clientele this piece of furniture will be aimed at. According to Acorns household user guide people within the affluent achiever category will be: “Most financially successful people within the UK. Live in wealthy, high status rural, semi-rural and suburban areas of the country. Middle aged or older people, the ‘baby-boomer’ generation. Live in large houses, which are usually detached with four or more bedrooms. Homes are significantly more expensive than the average. Some will own homes worth many millions. Some families will own a second property. Most are very well educated and employed in managerial / professional occupations. Many own their own business. Incomes are generally well above average. Many can afford to spend freely and frequently and have also built up savings and investments. Usually confident with new technology and managing their finances, these people are established at the top of the social ladder.” (The household acorn user guide, 2013) (CACI, 2013).
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However, not all that fall within this category will want to buy this kind of furniture. Out of the 11 personas only 5 feel to fit the target market this piece of furniture is going to be aimed at. The potential clients are shown highlighted. Affluent Achievers Types:
1.1 Monied metropolitans 1.2 Rich and retired 1.3 Young professionals 1.4 Detached singles 1.5 Flourishing families 1.6 Accomplished suburban families 1.7 Later-life professionals 1.8 Exclusive empty nesters 1.9 Middle-aged suburbanites 1.10 Asset-rich retirees 1.11 Affluent elderly (The household acorn user guide, 2013) (CACI, 2013).
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After reading all of the biography for the selected personas there were a few things that they all had in common. These are traits that would be present in someone that would be purchasing the furniture. The personas that where identified as the target market would be people who are middle aged or above, have worked in a high positioned job, have savings and own a large detached or semidetached house in a nice neighbourhood.
The table below (The household acorn user guide, 2013) show the scores of each type person within the Affluent Achievers category. The higher the number the more likely it is that it will apply to that type of person against the UK average. The highlighted sections are the key factors that link to the target market that this piece of furniture will be aimed at. With the age of the target market in mind the design may be reflected within the furniture. A more of an traditional look to the furniture might help it to appeal to the target generation.
The key factors are mainly down to having savings, and having a sizeable home. These are both linked to the size of the project, using a whole plank will probably result in a fairly large product. This in turn will have a higher price tag as a lot of work will be going into make the piece of furniture. After all, a quality bespoke one of product will have more overheads than a batch or mass-produced piece of furniture.
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Initial Designs. After doing a lot of research the next stage was to start coming up with some design ideas. The idea of making something out of one plank was quite daunting and needed a design with sufficient mass to use everything up while not looking too clunky. The idea was to use everything up so the possibility of making a range or collective set of furniture was an idea. The designs manly focused on keeping that natural feel and using the features that may usually be thrown away. Pieces of furniture that where avoided where things like chairs as they are quite fiddley and tend to waste material. Dining tables were also ruled out as this would require more than one plank of material to produce something so big.
The blue circles highlight the concepts that had the most potential looking for the best usage of material. This tended to be long slender designs that best worked with the general shape of a plank of wood. This way the mass majority of the plank could get used up fairly easy with minimal waste. Almost all of these designs didn’t have curves within the design as producing these shapes would result in unnecessary waste.
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63.
Although one of the designs had a rounded end the design reflects nicely against the rough-cut square end. The waste produced from the rounded end would have to be used up somewhere else on the design.
This set of designs mainly focused around the exposed frame designs, showing how the under frame was supporting the top. As a general rule for tables the legs shouldn’t jut out from the top, as people tend to bang their legs on them. However, if they were visible from the top this would hopefully reduce the chances of that happening. Some of these designs where slightly more extreme than others like the square table at the top. This wouldn’t be a suitable design due to the target market the design was aimed at. The designs that where circled only had one side or end of legs exposed, and didn’t splay out of the rectangle shape they created.
1.
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Some of the designs where fairly simple creating a solid structure with negative and solid space being reflected at each end of the base. This broke the solid chunky nature of the design up, allowing it to feel slightly lighter to look at.
This page aimed to accentuate the live edge on the plank as this was the part that tends to get wasted. The design tried to create a clear separation of the two parts, whereas others aimed to link them in as part of the design making a feature out of the rough bark.
2.
65.
Here we can see the use of the live edge again, this time facing inwards to create a negative space in between. The only problem with this is, you would need a fairly long plank, if not the design might end up looking quite short and out of proportion. Again, making a feature out of the edge of the plank will probably be the way forward for this project, as it will highlight the main area of wastage. The use of butterflies to join two parts together is another nice touch which might be explored more later in the project.
3.
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The level of quality that this project needs could be tricky to achieve when you are working with a limited amount of timber. Having a simpler design that uses more solid sections would allow to get a better level of quality. Doing a design like one these cabinets there’s a high-risk factor involved, and this is why none of these designs where chosen.
The designs on this page explores some different items of furniture that could be produced, these would be either free standing or wall mounted items. The only problem with these is that boxes tend to used up a fair amount of material and there is a high chance the wood would also warp. This would definitely use up a lot of timber but there is also the chance that some of the wood wouldn’t be suitable and then run out of timber.
4.
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On this page there are a few designs that look at the use of broken / separated sections of timber. These tops would then have to have an additional glass top to make it more practical. Others looked at using the live edge, In the under fame or redirecting the angle of it. Doing this would add an interesting feature of the edge as well as protecting it from damage. It was a simple idea but created a nice design.
5.
Detailed Designs.
1.
From the initial highlighted designs, a range of more in-depth drawing where sketched up to better help understand the form and detail. A perspective view was there to help show the main structure shape that the initial sketch might not have shown. While the bottom view was there to show what the structure may look like underneath, as some of the perspective drawings blocked the view.
2.
3.
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5.
6.
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7.
Potential Design.
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After reviewing the designs, it came to the decision. Which was the design with the most potential? Obviously, the design will change throughout the following design process as there are some things that need to be addressed. The major change would be keeping the waney edge as this is something that the research pointed out, being one of the main problems of waste at the sawmill. Stability is also a concern as the back end doesn’t have much support. This will be assessed through making models.
Full Scale Modelling.
To get an idea of what scale and what the designs might be like, two full size card models where created. At this point in time the two designs where both potential candidates for developing. This modelling stage was done just after the detailed sketches where produced. As you can see on the models a waney edge was added to address the issues that the drawings highlighted. This was a great exercise as it showed flaws in the designs, helped to better understand visual angles and how it would look from different heights. As well as being able to interact and see the potential size of the final design. The models really helped to see the frame in proportion to the top, doing this gave some initial measurements for design which will help to progress the design further down the line. Doing the modelling allowed for a more informed decision about design No.7 that was taken forward to be develop.
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Species: English Ash
The Plank. After the research that was conducted choosing the plank of wood was the next step for the project. The options for the plank where Walnut, London Plain, Horse-chestnut and Ash, after rejecting the rest from the original nine. Again, there were certain factors that had to be considered such as, sustainability, ethics, cost, character of the board, size, and if it still had a live edge. Before going to the sawmill there were some initial ideas drawn for the potential direction of the project. This helped visualise the rough size of the project, which then helped to pick a suitable sized plank. Obviously, thinking about having slightly more timber to compensate for different sized designs. As nothing was finalised at this point, it was better to have more than not enough. As this project is all to do with being sustainable, eco-friendliness and zero waste it made sense to use a local Cheshire sawmill. This way questions could be asked about each timber and have the freedom to look and choose at what was available. Unfortunately, London Plane wasn’t an option as they didn’t have any in stock. Walnut was very expensive for the size and thickness that was required, meaning the piece of furniture would be very expensive. The Horse-Chestnut that was available had a lovely pattern and character however, the size of the planks meant having to use two. This was considered as they where consecutive planks from the same tree but wouldn’t fit the importance of one plank design. This left Ash, this fitted the rough dimensions required however there was only one live edge as it was too wide to fit through the saw. This was minor set back but it did still have one solid side and achieved all of the other objectives.
From: Peover Estate in Knutsford, Cheshire Location of tree: 53.257448, -2.341703 Planked on: June 2015 Cutting Method: ‘through & through’ At Wildwoods sawmill on Peover Estate Felling: Due to possible danger to house Length: 9ft Thickness: 2 inches Width: 19 inches Plank Choice: Middle board, one of sixteen 72.
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Side Profiles. The basis for the design had a lot of potential, however the under frame had a lot of scope to be developed and changed. This is the where the support and stability for the top comes, as well as being quite a key focus point. As the table top is quite simple the under frame needs to have a bit of character and style to offset the simplicity. Design No. 7 that is being developed is currently boxy with only one angle throughout the whole design. This is something that needs to be addressed as it looks quite uninspiring.
Using the side profile designs helped to move the project on at a quicker pace focusing on the shapes and form rather than detail. This opened up a lot of potential options for the under frame. Some of the designs where more feasible than others but it got my imagination thinking about what could be done with the coffee table. The red circles indicate the designs with the most potential for further development. Some of the designs where picked due to their aesthetics and others where picked due to their structure.
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This page produced most of the potential designs, the circled designs seemed to be the best to take forward for further testing as it gave a nice variation in designs. The designs selected included angles, large base sections and floating sections. This would hopefully produce some interesting results when it came to scale modelling. This was quite a hard decision as there were other nice designs, but they looked like they would waste too much material for this project.
1.
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The designs on this page didn’t produce too much but did help to keep the designs going and to be a bit more adventurous with designs. All of the designs on this page are fairly boring and didn’t really feel like a bespoke piece of furniture. The only design that was chosen was a variation of the on the other page. This was mainly out of curiosity to see if the angle on the leg would change the stability when it came to modelling. There was an addition of the rail running all the way through the main section, this however was just a cosmetic addition.
2.
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Here you can see the exploration of more angular designs, as well as two rounded designs which would waste a lot of material but might have helped to spark inspiration. The designs focus more on having a frame that runs along the floor, creating more stability and some variation from the traditional leg and mid rail designs of many coffee tables out there already. The two chosen designs where picked due to the balance of angles on each end of the frame, this gives a nice coherence within the design.
3.
Coffee Table. Usually found within the living room or open spaced area, the coffee table is there to provide somewhere to place items. They can help tie areas together creating a nice living space, as well as breaking up a large open spaces. Generally, a coffee table is distinguished by its low stature and is fairly small either round, square or rectangular in shape. Coffee tables occasionally provide storage areas however this is not a defining feature. Something that has to be taken into consideration is the fact that people may sit on them. This is not their intended purpose but has to be designed with that in mind. This might be built into the aesthetics of the coffee table for example using a glass top giving the impression that it is quite fragile. But designing a coffee table with the necessary support to hold the weight of a human is probably the safest way to avoid it getting broken. However, there is a point at which a long rectangular coffee table may be mistaken as a bench. This defiantly has somewhat to do with the placement of the coffee table. Nevertheless, this is an issue that may affect this design as the initial sketches have indicated that this may be the style that ends up being used. Doing some fullscale modelling will hopefully help to get a better understanding of how a design might look and how to avoid the bench confusion. This may be down to the way the top of the table looks, how the legs interact with the top or down to the size of the design.
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Living Room.
The coffee table tends to be situated within the lliving room of many people’s homes and is a key part of the room. The size of the room will affect what sized coffee table can be used within there, if any at all. With the target market aimed at people with larger homes the living rooms are going to be considerably bigger than the average home. According to LABC warranty (LABC Warranty, 2018) currently the average living room area is 17.09 m2 which works out at roughly 3.4m by 5m. Over the years this has gradually decreased, and homes now have the same sized living rooms as they did back in the 40s. As you can see from the graph back in the 70s it peaked at 24.89 m2 and has slowly decreased over the years. Thankfully due to the target market
designing a coffee table for small spaces isn’t an issue. Using the Affluent Achievers biography from the target market page, helped to give a rough idea of how much the houses of the selected personas would cost. Using Zoopla (Zoopla, 2018) the online estate agents a selection of appropriate houses where selected. Theses ranged from £750,000 to £1,000,000 with 4/5 bedrooms, with a mixture of old and new buildings. The floor plans of these 20 houses where then inspected and the size of living rooms where noted down. A house of this size and price had an average of living room size of 31 m2 which worked out as 6.4m by 5m. This is considerably bigger than the UKs national average. An example of a lower ground floor plan with a large average sized living room (lounge) can be seen highlighted here. This house is 5-bedroom detached costing £900,000. This means the designs of the coffee table isn’t too restricted by the size of the room and instead can focus more on aesthetics, form and using the whole plank.
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Anthropometrics. Anthropometrics is all about the size of the human body. The scale runs 1 to 100, one is the small end of the spectrum and hundred is the big end of the spectrum. In the middle is the average size for the given area of the body in question. Using human dimension to influence the size of a piece of furniture is common practice, this helps to best fit the human form and be most comfortable. The general rule is to design for the 50th percentile as this is where the mass majority of people will feel comfortable. The 20th and the 80th percentile will still be able to use them but may struggle due to the proportions not fitting their body as well. The top and bottom 5th percentiles will definitely struggle to use the piece of furniture, possible not even be able to use it at all. However, the 5th percentiles at either end of the scale only makes up a very small amount of population. Trying to design for the full 100% would require the design to have lots of adjustability and movement. This can make the design very complex and sometimes, just easier to narrow the design percentile to focus on a better design. As this design is about expressing feature and making a statement it might not fit to the standard anthropometric data. In the book ‘Human Dimensions and Interior Space’ it talks about interior space and how we as humans interact with it. Going of this data presented in this book the coffee table should stand anywhere between 305mm – 457mm. This measurement is similar height of the average sofa seat. This is one of the measurements I think is key to keep within the range, as too short it will become impractical and too tall may start to look like a table or bench. However, the length and width are something that might not conform to the normal standard of coffee tables and anthropometrics. This is where the designs character will come from.
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Dimension Tests. Using the information gathered from the Human Dimensions and Interior Space book, presented on the anthropometrics page. A simple card model was produced with a sliding measurement to test the length of table. This ranged from 1700mm to 2500mm. Through research into target market, statement furniture and the space in which it will go, it meant the table was going to be quite long and be its stand out feature. The card model was sat onto of adjustable chairs allowing for a good range of motion within the height. This had to fit within a range of 305mm – 457mm (covered on the anthropometrics page) to work with the average height of sofas.
The width of the table started out as at 500mm wide however after laying the model on top of the plank there wasn’t enough width to get that out of the plank. The model then got trimmed down to 400mm where it allowed for some excess material which would be used up in the construction of the base. This was a good size for a coffee table top however, just to experiment the top was cut down to 300mm. This was too small to be a practical top and left to much excess for the base. The final measurement where 2000mm to 2200mm this will change depending on how much timber is needed for the base. The final width will be 400mm this leaves a nice amount of timber for the base with hopefully minimal off cuts.
There were a few different combinations that worked well and look nice and proportional. The length that looked good ranged from 2000 to 2200. Anything under looked a bit to small for the statement table it was meant to be creating. Anything over wouldn’t had left enough room to get the other components out of.
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Models 1:10 These models where made based off the measurements gathered from the fullscale modelling and anthropometric data. The designs were taken from the side profile page to help assist the red detailed design. This helped to get a better understanding of the designs form and function. Doing this meant that the designs could be interacted with and get a basic feel for what the structure and strength of the design was like. This is only a selected few of the models that where made the other design as shown here explore the use of negative space and cut outs. However, this was quickly rejected as it was wasting material without a purpose which went against the whole suitable eco theme of the project.
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Potential Design.
Through tutorials and personal opinion this was the design that was chosen from the seven red detailed designs. This coffee table has nice symmetry giving the feeling of balanced and support. Compared to the other designs this design looks like the frame is a part of the table rather than a secondary thought. The 1:10 scale models also backed up the decision, working well at a number of different angles. However, something that the models made more apparent was the lack of stability at the back. This was something that needs to be addressed through more model making.
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Stability.
Using a camera to capture the moment when the table falls over, it allows to see where the problem lies. The problem area is at the back, with a small amount of pressure on the side or even a sudden movement in this case the table falls. Not only does it fall on its side it continues to fully roll onto the top, scale this up to full size and the weight of a 2m long tale would do some serious damage. At full scale this will only need the weight of someone sitting on it to tip over. This is a very serious issue that needs to be delt with, all objects will have a tipping point but when it is this easy it is unsafe. Further development needs to be done focusing on the stability around the back section highlighted in red.
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Improved Models 1:10 From the original 1:10 models the addition of back supports where added, these where done on a variety of designs in a number of different ways. This addition was made to address the issues of stability and safety of the table. Adding the side supports will hopefully keep the table more secure and allow for more weight to be applied before falling. Adding side supports on a range of designs helps to open up the possibility of a design change. Up to this point the red design on the previous page was the current potential design. But with the new addition it changed the designs considerably, it made the structure more complex and refined. With the addition of the supports it gave scope to play around with angles, negative space and multiple supports which helped to give the design new aspects that they didn’t have before. Some of the designs worked better for support than others. The designs that had the support at the back and in the middle of the main structure worked as intended. However, the designs where the support was put towards the front of the main structure didn’t work as well, the balance wasn’t there and didn’t support much weight. Highlighted in red. In summary the decision was to stick with the original simple design with the side supports added in the middle. There was a worry that the characterful table top and waney edge would be too much with a complex looking base.
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Models 1:5 Scaling up the models allows for a better comparison to the real size and with all of the amendments made the model reacted better the stability test that was carried out on the 1:10 models. The model took a lot more pressure to be tipped over and felt like a more solid in construction. There were a few design changes that were made to the models these included the exploring how expressing the angled joint (as shown in picture 3) at the base would look. This was just a quick alteration to see how it would affect the aesthetics, but after constructing the model it looked very clunky and felt like an unfinished design. The most noticeable feature was the addition of a solid end angle, the thought process behind this was ‘why is the end made from 3 small parts when it could be constructed from one’. Doing it this way it would uses up more of the plank, fits the rest of the base and creates more of a solid structure underneath. The original design had the thickness of the rail the same thickness as the side angle and end angle to keep a design relationship between the parts. This fitted the design relation rule but it looked very small for the size of the table. This was therefore increased from 30mm to 60mm design and a 90mm design to see how they would all compare. Straight away the 90mm design looked oversized and so this left the 60mm as the final dimension. Finally, a small detail was added. This was the rail running through the end angle, this gave the front a bit more character instead of being a flat surface. This idea was taken from one of the red designs sketches that had the rail running through the main back section. Two sizes where tested, one at 60mm long (the width of the rail) and another at 120mm long. The 120mm design didn’t look very proportional and extended too much from the end angle. The 60mm design work well and was a nice finishing detail.
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Design Relationship.
The measurements for this table are restricted by the size of the plank but work within anthropometric data and modelling sizes. To keep a correlation or relationship in the design the some of the measurements are derived from one another. For example: The length of the main section at the back is the same length of the rail. The end section is the same length as the height. All the angles are the same. There are equal distances at each end. The side and end angles are the same thickness as the top. The rail is double the thickness of the side and end angle Doing this links all of the components and makes it aesthetically pleasing.
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CAD.
Using the dimensions taken from the 1:10 scale model a full-sized CAD model was created. This helped to define and get accurate measurements, as well as make sure that everything worked together. The real advantage of this was it helped to get the angles which where needed for the majority of cuts in this design. When breaking the CAD drawing down you can see that there are a number of components which make up the base. The amount of timber that is available to make the base is limited so things such as the rail had to be in 3 parts. If there was enough timber the rail would be one solid section running all the way on the bottom. However due to the limitation joints it will have to be hidden under the side angle, and the end block will be stuck on to give the illusion that the rail continues through the end angle.
1. Top 2. Side Angle 3. Main Chunk 4. Rail #1 5. Rail #2 6. End Angle 7. End Block
These measurements will be used to create the cutting list which will help when it comes to cutting out the timber.
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Some of the parts dimensions where decided by other parts / restrictions within the timber. The height of the main chunk was the maximum height that could be got out of the plank, this then informed the height of the rail. The height of the under frame needed to be 300 to fit within the anthropometric data of an average height of coffee table (240mm main chunk + 60mm rail = 300mm).
The final dimensions consisted of pulling a number of different elements together. Such as, working to the length of the timber, making sure that as much of timber was used, what looked aesthetically pleasing and the dimensions gathered from modelling. All of this together created the final dimensions as seen on the this page.
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Other parts where based of other angles or thicknesses which was talked bout in the design relationship page (p91).
The length of the rail was made into three parts due to restrictions within the timber. All the joints where either hidden or tactically placed to look like one solid section.
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Final Dimensions.
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Assembly. The are a few ways in which the coffee table could be assembled. To start the rail will have to be attached to the main chunk, this is very easy and would just be secured with glue. As all the weight is pressing down on the joint there isn’t any need for extra support. The only thing that might help is locating pegs but even then, if the glue up is done properly there shouldn’t be any need for them. Attaching the side angles to the main chunk would be the next step. The tricky part about this will be locating the two sides in the same place and at the right angle. This could be done with biscuits, dominoes, dowels or tongue & groove. Using dowels could work well, going all the way through the main chunk which would make sure the dowels would be straight. The only problem is drilling the hole in the side angle which could cause them to be slightly out when it is all constructed. The best method for this would probably be the tongue & groove option, as everything can be set up on the router and would be the same on each side angle.
The end angle could also be done in a few different ways. If the rail was long enough a bridle joint could be cut into the rail and end angle creating a strong joint. However due to the length of the rail It needs to be done in a few parts. Connecting all three parts could be done with screws connecting the end angle to the rail and then covering the holes with the end cap. Another way could be with dowels running through all three parts, which would secure and align them. Finally, the top could be done with locating pins on the top of the fame or with button fasteners which would secure the top. This would also allow for movement of the wood, but might look a bit clunky as they can’t really be hidden to well. These are all methods that could be used, but you really need to be working with the wood and be in the moment to make a final call on the assembly method.
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Waste In Industry. When working in bespoke furniture industry there is a certain level of quality that is expected from the timber that is being used. No splits, no knots, no sapwood, no live edges and a nice grain structure are things that people expect. Essentially a perfect clean piece of timber with no faults. This is why the bespoke furniture industry throws away so much timber. What is classed as usable and is not usable is really down to how natural the piece of furniture will look finally, as this project is set out to show that everything is usable. The level of wastage is therefore down to what the client specifies or how the piece of furniture has been designed. To illustrate the level of waste that would be cut off within industry, red chalk was used to highlight the problem areas. This was done for the whole plank with most of the problems on the main section. Next, blue chalk was used to show how it would be cut out, this adds to the waste as some areas can’t be used due to cuts needing to be straight to create a usable section. There are many defects with this plank and would probably not be used in industry. One of the problems with this plank is the pith, this isn’t usually an issue, but due to this plank being almost central to the tree the pith is visible in places. This is something that is usually avoided as it creates a weakness within the plank. The splits at both ends are due to internal stresses that where released when the tree was planked and then further amplified by the drying process. These areas are usually cut off, as over time they can continue to open up. These faults within the plank are what makes it natural giving a piece of furniture its character. This is something that should be expressed rather than hidden or not used.
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Products From Waste. With every project there’s going to be waste, even though this project is optimised to produce as little waste as possible there will still be off cuts and sawdust. To use up the waste from this project other product must be made, these may accompany the table or be something that is a standalone piece. However, if it is a stand-alone piece it would make sense that it would be designed to work within the living room as there will be a connection between the two products. Using the sawdust will require it to be mixed with an additional substance to make it a solid useable product. Whereas some of the off cuts of wood might be in a useable state, or if not big enough might need to be glued together. Hopefully there won’t be too many off cuts produced as the design will optimising the plank. Some potential ideas for the waste could be: All these ideas could be situated on the coffee table, items like the planter, clock, box and the light could be scaled up and made to be stand-alone products. Using the same design language and features will help to link the products together.
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Coasters Tea Light Holder Match Box Holder Bowl Light Small Planter Clock Box Tray Nutcracker Paper Weight Dominoes Dominoes Box
Cutting list. Now that the CAD and Illustrator drawings where done it meant that a cutting list could be compiled. This consisted of all the measurements for the components that where needed to build the coffee table. Two lists where created one with oversized components and another with the exact measurements. This was done because all the oversized components would need to be thickness, planed and possibly have angles cut on them. Leaving excess material means more waste in the form of sawdust but is necessary for a quality finish.
This helped to show what needed to be cut out, the names of the corresponding parts where written on the plank in chalk. The rough guide measurements were also drawn out onto the plank to make sure that they would all fit. This also helped when it came to cutting out the components as everything was labelled which avoided confusion. At this stage working out which components to get out of which part of the plank was the real issue. Lots of things had to be considered such as grain, knots, splits, shakes, what was most efficient for the planer and thicknesser and how much waste would be produced from each orientation of the components.
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Materials Research.
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Initial Test.
Trying to use everything from the plank of wood is quite a task, as this means even the sawdust has to be used up. Mixing the sawdust in with bonding agent allows the sawdust to become solid and useful again. Several tests were carried out using caskimite, a wood glue that starts in powder form and requires water to set the reaction off.
The first test used two cups in an attempt to create a mould of the cup. This worked to a certain extent however, the inconsistent wall thickness and large air bubble would mean a different mould would have to be used to get a better finish. This did prove that the concept of sawdust and caskimite works to create a useable product. As Cascamite is a wood glue it isn’t food safe and isn’t waterproof so the concept of cups wouldn’t be a viable option. However, Cascamite is water resistant so the possibility of coasters to protect the table might be an option.
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Bowl.
The next test was an attempt to make a bowl, this used a two-part mould. However, when creating the mould on the vacuum former it went slightly wrong and made an odd shape. This was somewhat of a happy accident as it created a more natural looking shape to the outside of the bowl.
Cascamite won’t be a viable option due to how its dry’s and cracks. Nevertheless, this is a wood glue and is intended to bond joints together so trying to make it cast shapes might be too asking much. This type of experiment might work better with an epoxy resin.
The pictures show the bowl just a few minutes after it had been taken out of the mould. This means the Cascamite hadn’t been given any time to dry out. Fast forward a few days and the bowl was fully dry, this caused some issues as the small cracks that where created when removing the bowl from the mould had opened up. This might be one of the products that the sawdust or the off cuts are made into. But making it out of
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Pucks. Images link to the text left to right as they are being talked about below. To get an idea of what a solid puck would look like a mixture of Cascamite and saw dust was poured into an acrylic cylinder. One used shaving from the table saw and the other used shavings from the planer. This varied the size of the chippings to test whether the mixture would change in anyway. The results for this turn out good with potential for further testing, the mixture made a solid block that could be used for many applications. This could be things such as joining components, structural parts or objects to go onto the table. The addition of the saw dust really helps to bind the puck together giving its structural rigidity. Following on from the previous tests this time exploring colour, texture and smell. The mixtures all used the basis of Cascamite and sawdust with an additive to change the characteristics. The colour tests used a range of different colouring agents, these included food dye, acrylic paint and charcoal. The results of the test where quite promising and had potential to be implemented into the design or used to accompany the table.
The food dye gave the pucks a subtle tint to the original cream colour allowing the wood chippings to still be visible. This was good as it meant you could still see what the puck was made up of while give it them a bit more colour. The next test used acrylic paint, this gave a very bold colour to the pucks. This took away some of the character as it masked the saw dust making it quite hard to see. The whole idea of this is to use up the leftover sawdust and the products need to show that ‘waste’ aspect. Also, as they were drying out, they started to cup quite heavily, this may be due to the outside drying quicker than the inside. The added moister of the paint may have affected how long it takes to dry as this was the only test to do this. Using the same acrylic paint another mixture was produced, this time using less Cascamite and more sawdust. This was to explore the possibility of having a fairly textured puck to better resemble the wood fibres. These took a considerable amount of time to dry fully and once done they where quite brittle due to the lack of glue holding the fibres together. This set of pucks defiantly showed the fibres a lot better which helps to portray the original source of puck.
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Incorporating crushed charcoal created a more natural and eco solution to colouring helped to better link it to this project and its ethos. Mixing this into the solution helped to get a nice middle ground where the fibres are still visible and has a nice deep colour. The addition of little charcoal chunks within the puck also added to its character making each one unique. Thinking about colour also lead the tests to explore the sense of smell as one of the first things a few people did was smell the puck. Using vanilla extract within the mixture gave the solution a lovely smell when in its liquid form. However, as it solidified it lost some of its scent and over time eventually lost it completely. The thought process behind this was to turn the pucks into coasters with the vanilla extract infused within them. When someone placed a hot cup onto the surface the scent would fill the air. This however was not the case but was an interesting test.
Finally, to try and reduce how much the pucks slid a section of cork was added to the bottom. This was place underneath the acrylic tube and bond straight to the puck as it set. This gave the puck more professional finished look to the puck, as well as reducing the slippiness of the bottom surface. This does however mean bringing in additional materials that aren’t necessarily needed adding to the potential waste at the end of its life. Moving forward the black charcoal has the most potential, the general feedback that was received from them pointed towards the charcoal looking the best.
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Dominoes. With the success of the Cascamite pucks the focus shifted to finding a way to incorporate the new composite into the table. This would either be through components within the table or as items to complement the table. One idea for a product to complement the table was dominoes, a classic game which can be easily played on the table top. To create a mould for the dominoes a pre-existing set had to be used. The mould was made from silicon allowing it to be reused multiple time and for easy extraction of the castings due to its flexibility. To start with a few test pieces where poured using Cascamite and sawdust, initially they worked well coming out of the mould easily and forming a perfect copy of the dominoes. A few days passed and the Cascamite is now fully dried. Over those few days the dominoes had been drying at different rates, due to the mould being open topped, the bottom of the dominoes had started to dry first. This in turn caused the dominoes to bend inwards, this wasn’t the only problem. The exposed side of the dominoes was also a much darker shade to the rest of the body and that drying period had caused them to shrink in size. Despite all of the problems another set was cast this time with the charcoal added. The purpose of this was to see if the same problems would happen again as well as seeing how the charcoal would look in the dominoes. Unsurprisingly the same problems reoccurred.
An alternative method was therefore needed, this came in the form of polyurethane resin, a two-part mixture that was commonly used for casting jewellery. The clear resin was a fast setting, having an exothermic reaction leaving a very detailed smooth finish to the surface. To begin with just sawdust was mixed in to get an idea of how it would react to the resin. The results where good with a perfect copy of the mould being produced, with a slight expansion of the resin through the curing period. Another test was then carried out using the charcoal to make sure it reacted in the same way. The results of that where positive and with that a large mixture was produced to cast the whole set of 28 dominoes. The dominoes where purposely left to overflow so then they could all be sanded to one uniform thickness. This was done using a jig which held them all in palace as they went through the thickness sander. The backs where then sanded smooth by hand. Using a test piece, the details where painted in using white emulsion, this made the dominoes ‘stand out’ and created finished product. Due to how good the painted dominoes looked, a black version was tested using a permanent maker. This worked really well and the feedback from people was much in favour of the black version. The white emulsion worked really well but left the dots looking matt, unlike the permeant maker which left the shiny glossy finish which set them apart.
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Coasters.
When testing the Cascamite pucks a lot of feedback was talking about turning them into coasters for the table. Due to the success of the dominoes and finish that was achieved from the material a set of coasters where made using the same polyurethane resin, sawdust and charcoal mix. Using an 100mm acrylic tube (the average size of a coaster mat) a set of 5 coaster where cast. Originally the plan was to have them 5mm thick but due to underestimating how much to mix up there was only a small amount for each mould. This resulted in the coasters coming out at about 3.5mm thick, which then had to be sanded down to a uniform height. The end result having the coaster finished at 2mm thick. In hindsight the coasters would have been very bulky and wouldn’t had looked as nice as these turned out, in the end this was a happy accident.
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Resin pour trend. Over the past couple of years there has been a considerable increase in resin pour tables. They usually consist of two pieces of timber with the waney edges facing each other with resin poured in the middle to join them. This creates a river like effect through the centre, in my opinion this is quite a tacky looking effect which once you’ve seen it one you’ve seen them all. This can also be done to fill in big cracks within a plank. As this seems to be a current trend it needed to be explored within this project. An appropriate sample board was found with a large hole where a knot used to be, this was the area that was going to be filled. As you can see from the pictures the mixture was made up from sawdust and charcoal just like the coasters and dominoes. This worked to a certain degree however there were several large air bubbles. There isn’t a reliable way to stop it from happening again if it were to be done on the final product. This isn’t something that really fits the type of furniture that is trying to be produced, nor would it fit within the target markets tastes. This is very much a modern and young trend that wouldn’t be suitable for this project. In my personal opinion I think it would ruin the final finish of the table as it looks quite messy and feels like a quick fix to a problem that could be done traditionally. Fixing / securing the splits in the table top could be done with bow ties made from the sawdust and charcoal. This would give it a traditional feel while linking zero waste aspect of the project.
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Bow Ties. After the unsuccessful resin pour experiment the focused changed to bow ties which are a more traditional way of securing splits within timber. This holds the two side of the split together stopping them opening any further due to movement within the timber. In the past bow ties or also known as butterfly joints have been made from timber, opposite to the colour of the timber to give a contrast. But in resent years woodworkers have been experimenting with using metal and other shapes to secure splits. With this project it would be nice to use some of the sawdust like the dominoes to secure the splits. This would create a nice contrast and link to the sustainable aspects of the project. To start, a range of different sized bow ties where cut out on the laser cutter, this would help to create layout designs on the table top as well as make the moulds for the resin. As you can see from the pictures it allowed for real world interaction which helped to set out where they would be situated. The bow ties ranged in length and width which allowed for a number of different combinations. The final layout consisted of three different sized bow ties, at one end there are three bow ties. The order is medium, large, medium. The other end only had two, consisting of a small and a medium. As there was already quite a lot of character on the top of the table using only two sizes per end worked nicely. The casting of the resin was done in a twopart split mould made from layered acrylic, which once set left the same sized bow tie as the once used to layout the design. The same mixture of sawdust and charcoal was mixed up and poured into the mould. However, because there was only one mould for the medium mould, they had to be done one after another. This is why there is a slight variation in colour and density.
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Finishes. This was quite a critical part of the testing phase as this was what the table was going to be finished with. There are many different types of finishes on the market that could have been chosen. Water based, oil based, wax, etc. some are eco-friendly than others all having different effects on the wood. This project is all about being sustainable and eco so trying to find a natural eco-friendly finish to use on the table was the original idea. However, as this is going to be a fairly high trafficked piece of furniture it needs to have a good durable finish. Unfortunately, this isn’t best suited to natural finishes like Tung oil, Linseed or Sunflower oil to name a few. Natural oils like this aren’t particularly durable and would have to be regularly reapplied to keep a protective layer. Thinking about the target market and end client this isn’t something that they should have to worry about doing. This isn’t idle but it was a compromise that needed to be made to keep the furniture functional.
After ruling out the use of natural oils the focus moved to other alternatives that where in the workshop. These consisted of yacht varnish, clear varnish and Osmo oil, these are easy to apply which is good for the large table. There was bees wax but having to cover the large surface area of the coffee table would take a considerable amount of time. As you can see from the test, they are all very similar in shade. As you can see from the test, they are all very similar in shade 1. Natural, 2. Osmo, 3. Clear varnish, 4. Yacht varnish. The samples use a test bowtie as they where also going to be affected by the finish that was going to be applied. The samples use a test bow tie as they were also going to be affected by the finish that was going to be applied. Due to the fact that all of the samples looked very similar the decision was made to use Osmo. This is a product that I had worked with in the past and knew how to use and get a good finish with. It’s an oil wax mixture that has a good durability with a clear satin finish which will work nicely with the table top.
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Construction. The construction of this table was quite a simple design that consisted of a series of angular cuts and glued joints. This made the whole process fairly easy to construct in a relatively short time. The character of this design comes more from the actual timber itself rather than a complex design. Before any cuts were made all the measurements from the cutting list where double checked against the CAD model and the illustrator drawing. This ensured nothing was going to be cut to the incorrect size. After this the rough measurements where drawn out onto the plank in chalk so then everything was labelled and to make sure that everything fitted on. This help visualise the parts before they where cut making sure that there were no problems with the timber for vital parts such as the rail.
The process of machining the timber was relatively simple, first it was cut on the table saw to the rough size. Once all the parts where cut to the rough size they were cleaned up on the plainer, creating a flat face and square edge. Doing this made sure that everything would be square when it was machined on the thicknesser. This took everything down to the right thickness and width. However, some parts where left slightly over thickness as they where going to be glued together. This then allowed then to be thickness to the same width on the belt sander. All the offcuts where saved to be used later on in the project to create additional products to complement the table. The sawdust and planer chippings were also saved from the extractor bags and bottom of the table saw. At the start of the machining process all the parts where going to be the exact width the CAD model stated, which was 30mm. This would have created a uniform thickness for all of the parts. However, during the thicknessing process, a number of the parts where clean (no rough marks or weathering from the original planking process). Some parts where 15mm over the specified size, however it seemed very wasteful to plane that much off just to create a uniform size. As the project was about sustainably the timber was left at maximum clean thickness if it didn’t affect crucial measurements.
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Construction. Within the design there where a number of steps that needed to be done before moving to the next, such as glue ups and angled cuts. The main sections internal angle had to be cut as this wouldn’t be possible once the rail was glue on underneath. Once this was done the main section was marked out showing where the side angles would be situated. This gave a small area to hide the joint where the two rails meet. Knowing this, the rails where glued to the base of the main section making sure that the parts didn’t slip when the clamps where applied. Once this was done the back angle could be cut, as well as the opposite angle at the end of the rail creating the main section of the base. At this point all the parts where sanded to 220 grit this made thing a lot easier to handle instead of doing It when it when it is all glued up. When sanding I was careful not to round the corners as this would affect glue joints. The next component to be machined was the side angles. First the bottom angle was cross cut to give the part the same angle as the back. This was then flipped to cut the top angle, which was cut little by little so it would sit flush with the main chunk. The stop was then set on the table saw and the other side was replicated. During the construction of this it came apparent that this was going to be difficult to keep each side lined up and in one place while it is being glued. To combat this problem a tongue and grove was cut with the table router. The grove ran down the centre of each side angle and the middle of the main chunk, this was then linked with a piece of ash from the offcuts. There was thought of using the sawdust charcoal resin mix, but creating a section that long would have been difficult and time consuming.
The end angle is comprised of two sections glued together with the glue line running up the middle of the board. This was a simple glue up which only needed thickness sanding to level the piece off. After this the angles where cut on the top and the bottom, by the same process as the side angles where. The original plan was to glue the top to the base using dowels making a strong solid structure. However, after feeling the weight of all of the parts it was obvious it would make it a very heavy table. For this reason, the decision was made to create the table top that was removable but with illusion as if it was glued to the base. This caused some concern for the end angle as it would be supporting the weight of the table top, on a very small glued area at the end of the rail. Not only the weight of the table, if someone where to sit on the end it might break. As a precaution two metal bars where inserted into the end of the rail which ran through the end angle and was capped by the end block. This created a very strong solid structure which would take sufficient weight, the bars also acted as locating pins for the end angle and end block. As the bars had to travel through the end angle and into the rail it meant that the hole had to be cut at the same angle. A jig had to be made to allow the drill bit to pass through at the correct angle, which allowed the end angle to sit flat and the bars to be parallel with the rail.
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Construction. The table top was now the main focus of the build, this was trimmed to the final 2000mm. After that it needed the 5 bow ties to set into the table. A lot of sanding was need to get that perfect finish. As the location of the bow ties had already been planned out earlier it was just a case of measuring them to create equal spacing. The sawdust charcoal resin mix bow ties where then marked out using a knife to get a tight outline. Each was numbered and one side marked as they were all slightly different. The next step was then to cut the majority of the shape out with the hand router, making sure to leave excess so it could be cleaned up with a chisel. This was the most time consuming and accurate part of the project, the bow ties needed a nice, snug fit with no gaps around the edge. The bow ties where glued in and left proud to be sanded back flush with the top.
Before sanding the top, a section of bark needed to be glue back on, this had fallen off during the transportation of the timber. This was stuck back on with ‘Titebond’ wood glue as well and any other lose parts of the bark. Just for good measure a bead of glue was run along the cambium layer (top and bottom) were the bark meets the sapwood. This would hopefully secure the bark to the side, preventing it from falling off if knocked. After gluing the sanding of the top could being, this revealed that there was a small gap next to one of the bow ties. This was quickly addressed with some PVA and sanding dust from the table top, mixed to make a paste that matched the colour of the wood. Sanding starting at 100 grit and working up to 400 grit this created a scratch, free table top. The bottom and sides where only taken to 220 as they wouldn’t be seen as frequently.
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Construction. With everything now joined together it was just a case of adding in the locating pins that sit at each corner of the end angle and the side angles. The location of the pins where drawn out on the bottom of the table making sure that the top was sat equal distance from the sides and in the middle of the base. The pin locations where then draw on the top of the base and drilled half way, this was to make sure that the pins would line up. The original design was for it to sit flat but after seeing the pin hold the table top up, I decided to keep this as a feature. Engineering created the brass pegs with a domed top that sat 10mm into the base (glued in) 10mm out and 10mm into the table top allowing a secure but removable table top.
Alternatives. This was a last-minute design decision that wasn’t planned into the original design, it meant there wasn’t much development on the idea. Looking back, there could have been a number of different options that were chosen instead. The first alternative option could have been to use the sawdust charcoal mix to create little pegs / spacers. This possibly would have linked to the project better, using up more of the waste within the table. This would had also looked nice however, the weight of the table and the fact that it can be lifted on and off might had caused the small pegs to snap off. This would had only worked if the pegs where considerably thicker, which could have taken away from the aesthetic of the table. Another idea for the spacers could have been using up some of the other wood. Possibly the application of a dye to help offset the parts, creating a clear separation between the top and the frame. Looking back at the options I still think that the brass pins where the best option. They are strong and durable while matching the colour of the ash. The pins seem like a little quality touch which ties into the bespoke nature of this project.
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The final part of the table was to apply the finish, making sure the surface was free from dust the first coat of Osmo oil went on. This was applied with a foam roller, it was left to soak in for 10 minutes and then the excess was buffed off with a cotton sheet. Doing this left the surface smooth with a slight shine, the first coat raised the grain slightly in places so it was lightly sanded all over with 1000 grit sandpaper. This took the nibs off the surface meaning it could be dusted down ready for another coat. The table top received three coats and the rest of the table got two. Now that everything was finished, I was worried about the bottom of the base getting damaged. In an attempt to combat this smaller rubber dots where added to the bottom of the base. This lifted the whole table up 2mm / 3mm which worked nicely. However, it caused the table to wobble around due to the rubber feet acting like a spring. These were removed with the acceptance that the bottom of the base may get slightly damaged.
Now that the whole table was complete it was time to use up some of the offcuts to show that they weren’t all useless. A box for the dominoes and a holder for the coasters where made from the offcuts as these are items that are going to be housed on the table. Both designs where fairly simple, the coaster holder was an off cut from one of the side angles. The angle that you see on the holder is the same as the one on the base of the table. The CNC router cut the hole out for the coasters to be situated leaving a 2mm gap around the edge (the same thinness as the coasters). The overhang meant the coaster could be easily removed but the position of the hole meant they wouldn’t fall out. The depth of the cut meant that when all of the coasters where situated in the holder they would sit flush with the top. The dominoes box used mitred joints and a tongue and groove system for the base. I wanted the dominoes box to reflect the thin, long style of the table within the box. The 28 dominoes where stacked two high, creating a long box which reflect the shape of the table. The top of the lid was created from some of the excess bark. This was recessed into the lid which allowed it to locate and form a top. The two items where then oiled and rubber feet added to protect the table top from scratches. These are just a few things that could be made from the offcuts and sawdust. There are still parts left over from the table which need to be used up, this could be in the form of a number of different products or sculptural art pieces.
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Costings. Working off a price for a bespoke furniture marker at £30 an hour you can see that the price of this table would be very highly priced with a profit of 20%. This is always a concern when working on a project as the price of everything together doesn’t represent the work that is produced. The hourly price is based off a company that has other overheads such as rent etc. As this isn’t the case the price would be able to be dropped by £10 an hour for example. This would create a much more affordable price for the furniture. Once a company has produced a name for themselves and a reputation, prices can be increased. Pieces of furniture can be perceived this can sometimes and reputation of
with a high price tag as being expensive, be due to the quality the furniture maker.
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80 Hours £10 per hour = £800
£30 per hour = £2400
£75 - Timber £15 - Diesel £25 - Oil £10 - Sandpaper
£75 - Timber £15 - Diesel £25 - Oil £10 - Sandpaper
£800 + £125 = £925
£2400 + £125 = £2525
10% = £ 1017.5 20% = £ 1110 30% = £ 1202.5
10% = £2777.5 20% = £3030 30% = £3282.5
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Conclusion.
The question that set this project in motion was “How can a zero-waste design influence the processes in which a piece of furniture is made and the usage of the material?”. With an aim “To design a bespoke piece of furniture that produces zero waste to show that every part of the material can be used in an effective / practical way”. This was quite an ambitious project that aimed to use all of the plank within the given time. Unfortunately, not all of the waste was used up, but this project did prove the concept of using what is classed as waste can be used to make functionable / usable products. The final piece of furniture definitely fits into the bespoke category of furniture. It’s a oneoff design that has a high-quality finish. The accompanying products add to the overall bespoke nature of the design giving it that little finishing touches.
Looking back at the project there would be a couple of things that would have been nice to add. Things such as using brass inserts on the underside of the table for the locating pins to drop into. This would have been a nice detail, as well as creating a more durable hole that may get damaged over several years of taking the top on and off. The second thing would have been using an eco epoxy resin for the sawdust charcoal mix. Due to the price of the resin and the location (America), this product didn’t seem like a viable option. The effort of shipping the product over to the UK would have counteracted the good it would have done. In my opinion the overall outcome of this project was executed to a good standard. With a well-designed piece of furniture that fits within the target market that was specified. The coffee table is a good example of how all of the plank can be used. Creating a bespoke statement piece of furniture that aims to start conversations about zero waste and the wasteful generation we live in today.
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Special thanks to: John Bairstow Dean Stanford Nathan Millar Furniture
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Image.jpg?format=1500w https://static.wixstatic.com/media/af6118_5f1440a3ab3841d4b7cdd0bb759d4ade.jpg/v1/fill/w_600, h_600,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/af6118_5f1440a3ab3841d4b7cdd0bb759d4ade.webp https://static.wixstatic.com/media/af6118_8c8b2ed564e24b9d85389eb1034e1570.jpg/v1/fill/w_60 0,h_911,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/af6118_8c8b2ed564e24b9d85389eb1034e1570.webp https://www.dezeen.com/2017/02/26/simon-kern-design-chair-recycled-fallen-leaves-bioplasticchair-furniture/ http://tdsblog.com/furniture-designers-unconventional-fabric/beleaf-chair-by-simon-kern-3/ https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6e/af/7a/6eaf7a35c912fa84f7541650f2242bc7.jpg Statement Furniture. http://www.diseitalia.it/media/812955/Pietradolce_1.jpg Target Market. https://unsplash.com/photos/MF_hmgZcaz4 https://acorn.caci.co.uk/downloads/Acorn-User-guide.pdf Initial Designs. https://unsplash.com/photos/R9OueKOtGGU Side Profiles. https://unsplash.com/photos/PVQnaFyePvU Coffee Table. https://unsplash.com/photos/Uo45EDAwtV8 Livingroom. https://lc.zoocdn.com/1501d69ab60dd0cd2ffa39523dc0e20b290d8d4d.jpg https://www.labcwarranty.co.uk/blog/are-britain-s-houses-getting-smaller-new-data/ Assembly. https://unsplash.com/photos/qTSateLo2Jw
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Christopher Birch Product Design & Furniture One Plank Project The design brief for this project was “How can a zero-waste design, influence the processes in which a piece of furniture is made and the usage of the material?” My aim was to design a bespoke piece of furniture that produced zero waste. I wanted to show that every part of the timber could be used in an effective and practical way. The project used one single plank of English Ash and aimed to use every single part of the plank, including the waste. Coasters, dominoes and butterfly keys were all produced from the sawdust. These were created by mixing eco resin, charcoal and sawdust. The inspiration for this way of designing came from a book written by Garry Olson and Peter Toaig called ‘OneTree’, where a group of designers created different products from every part of the tree. The coffee table is a statement piece, aimed to illustrate the problems surrounding the amount of waste that is produced in the furniture industry. This is still an ongoing project trying to create more products from the leftover waste.
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