Category: Furniture Design

Woods and Grasses

Wood Wood has been the standard material used to make furniture since recorded time. Today, the process of working with solid lumber (by hand) to mass-produced furniture is generally considered economically unfea­sible. This reality has caused furniture designers and companies to consider veneers and composite panels, computer-controlled cutting tools, and automated processes of painting and […]

Stone

Stone has been used to construct buildings for mil­lennia but it also serves as a material for table sur­faces, benches, decorative elements, and trim work (Figure 7.56). Marble is a beautiful stone; however, it is sus­ceptible to breakage along its natural veins and faults. Though excellent in compression, it is fragile in both shear and […]

Rubber and Elastomers

Wallace Carothers and a team at DuPont, building on work begun in Germany earlier in the twentieth century, developed synthetic rubber in 1930, though natural rubber was har­vested in Peru many centuries earlier. Synthetic rubber is called neoprene, a substance more resistant to oil, gasoline, and ozone than natural rubber. It is also used as […]

Paper

Paper would seem to be an unusual material for furniture— it’s flimsy, fragile, and neither durable nor moisture resis­tant. Nonetheless, designers have used paper in innovative ways to make furniture out of paper and paper products. Innovative pieces include Frank O. Gehry’s Easy Edges series, a line of corrugated cardboard pieces designed and fabricated for […]

Metal

Metal is used in both the form and structure of furniture as well as for hardware and mechanical fasteners. It is, however, a material considered uncomfortably cool to the touchand therefore is conventionally used for supportive ele­ments in furniture. It is a remarkable material that can be curved, bent, and rolled. Stainless steel, aluminum, brass, […]

Glass

Discovered by the Egyptians and perfected by the Romans, glass is one of the oldest man-made materials. Its basic material component is sand (silicon dioxide). Modern glass is approximately 75 percent silica, with lime, sodium, lead, boron, or iron added to achieve different properties. Adding metals, minerals, and oxides to silica gener­ates a range of […]

Finishes

Finishes is a general term that includes single or multiple coatings or processes applied to a surface using either spray, brush, rag, sponge, electrolysis, mechanical, or abrasive methods (Figure 7.35). Historically, societies have placed a high value on the finish of furniture. Wood, stone, and fabrics are porous materials that need sealers to protect them […]

Fabrics and Leather

Fabrics and leather are materials commonly used where furniture comes into direct contact with the human body. Fabric is a generic name given to natural and synthetic textiles. Leather is the generic name given to animal hides prepared by a currier (Figure 7.31). Large animals are said to have "hides" (cow hide, buffalo hide), while […]

Composite Boards

Composite boards are built-up boards used for specific applications. They are the mate­rial of choice for use as a substrate for large case goods that have an applied veneer. They are occasionally used as a finishing material. Composite boards often have a core with thinner plies of wood or other materials applied to each side […]

Adhesives and Glues

Adhesives and glues are designed to adhere materials together. Technically, glues are con­sidered natural, and adhesives are considered synthetic. There is no universal glue that will adhere anything to everything under all conditions. There are several general-purpose and special-purpose glues and adhesives. The first questions to ask when deciding which glue to use are: ■ […]