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Brooke Davis's "Tablescape No. 1" Elevates CNC to Fine Art

By Ray Hu - April 13, 2012

in Furniture Design

Designer Brooke Davis reminds us that you don't have to be showing in Milan for your furniture designs to get a little love from Core. Insofar as her most recent project, "Tablescape No. 1," is as much a work of art as it is an article of furniture, the 58”×90” dining table also marks the intersection of sculptural craft and contemporary fabrication processes. Where CNC tooling is typically associated with consistency for mass production or precision for, say, hardware-less joinery, Davis hopes to "push the boundary of CNC as a tool" with "Tablescape No. 1," a three-month labor of love that required some 100 hours of hand sanding to remove every tool mark:This remarkable design pushes the boundary of using the CNC as a tool. Davis's personal process involves using drawing, clay and 3D CAD computer modeling interchangeably until the designs are finished. Her latest designs embrace using the CNC as part of the production process but also allow for hand manipulation afterwards making each piece unique.

The design itself evokes everything from a topographical map to a Georgia O'Keeffe painting, from Lucio Fontana's slit canvases to a fantastical door. Davis herself refrains from indicating her inspiration, noting that "an object should beg to be discovered, for when one is enamored with an object, it transcends words."

And if the hard rock maple seems to underscore the natural reference points—creeping tendrils, roots or vines—it's worth noting that the digital design tools allow Davis to create works in any size or material choice, as in the Corian side table below:

While this week marks a relative calm before the storm of the Salone, it's worth noting that Davis will be exhibiting "Tablescape No. 1" at the ICFF in May, and we're curious to see it in person next month. In the meantime, we wish Davis the best of luck with her new venture make+SHift, a Design-on-Demand company based in Austin, TX.

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Keegs

12 years ago

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Clearly Luke hasn't done much wood working.
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Luke

12 years ago

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It's an interesting and attractive piece, I'll give it that.

What I don't understand why 100 hours of hand sanding were required. Why not just get a good finishing end mill and put the piece through a nice, slow finishing pass?

If that doesn't do the trick and there are still some unsightly tool marks, why not just hit it with a sandblaster? Hand-sanding a dining table just seems like insanity.
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Molly

12 years ago

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This is stunning. Great work Brooke!
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