Core77

Pricey Pre-Cast Joints for DIY Furniture, Yea or Nay?

By Rain Noe - October 29, 2013

in Furniture Design

Perhaps you've seen those pre-fab sawhorse brackets where all you have to do is screw some 2×4s into them. Now Sydney-based industrial designer Henry Wilson is releasing a similar concept, which he calls the A-joint.

Wilson's A-joints are essentially aluminum brackets that you plug 2x4s into in order to make stools, benches or tables. Wilson describes them as "sand-cast in re-claimed metals and almost indestructible." While we understand the concept, having seen sawhorse brackets before, we're not quite sure whom the target market is; our thought is that anyone who's bothered to purchase a chopsaw and knows how to cut a 2x4 to length presumably has enough basic carpentry skills to knock up a shop bench, no? Or do you think that's our industrial design bias talking, and that there is in fact a ready market for pre-cast joints that range from $110 to $220 a pop?

If there is a market, it should soon become apparent; a collection of Wilson's furniture built using A-joints is launching in New York tomorrow, October 30, at Matter in SoHo.

o

Favorite This
Q
4

Comment

Comments

Patrick

11 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

I say nay. Seems like an overpriced solution to the readily available options at your local building center.
If you're on a budget why not this?http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S89002010/

The problem I see with the A-frame base for an office space is the reduced leg room beneath. There infinitely more options with these:
http://www.simplifiedbuilding.com/
!Report as spam
Kevin

11 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

I have no doubt that a number of these will sell... but should they... that's a different question.
!Report as spam
Mike

11 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

If you've ever seen a startup toss money around to get a new office furnished and decorated...then you'll know that a couple dozen of these and someone to come in to cut the wood is a drop in the money bucket.
!Report as spam
mediabob

11 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Insightful. Indeed, anyone needing a sawhorse would have the resources to create them. Unless, as you point out, there's a different market being addressed. A push cart in the aisle of a Home Depot would soon yield the information they need.
!Report as spam