The TS Series is a Furniture Collection that involves folding steel origami style to make the distinctive designs.

Design Team

Roy Livingston – Designer/Maker

Dan Healy – Plasma Cutting/ Advisor

Epic Coatings – Finishing

VOLO Table Table designed and made from folded steel by Roy Livingston

AERO Table Table designed and made from folded steel by Roy Livingston

AERO Table Table designed and made from folded steel by Roy Livingston

AERO Table Table designed and made from folded steel by Roy Livingston

VOLO Table Table designed and made from folded steel by Roy Livingston

This design adventure started with a small paper mockup of the AERO table and after getting a design patent on it, my patent attorney asked if I had any other designs. At the time the answer in my head was, "No", but I said "Maybe", and it got me to thinking what other designs can I make utilizing just a triangle and a square. Sketchup is a great tool to experiment with the different forms.

A friend of mine, who has a shop, advised me on what I would need to accomplish my goal. The first thing I would need would be a 50 ton press which I bought and he lets me keep it at his shop. This is convenient because he plasma cuts my designs and they weigh about 50 pounds each.

What I found out when folding the tables is the folds need to start in a certain order, usually from the outside in, because when you're on the last fold, the table is almost wrapped around the die on the press. Also don't trust any lines that you didn't just measure, I've made perfect folds on lines that happen to be wrong from the day before. These mistakes I keep around as large paperweights, to remind me that you can't unbend steel.

I looked for a series of finishes, because I really like the look of raw blackened steel, unfortunately durability was always the problem. Flood Penetrol is a good product If you are searching for way to coat raw steel, but you are still going to have to live with the eventual scratches. So, I landed on powder coating and I use a color that is called antique bronze that reads black but has more depth and kind of reminds me of blackened steel. A place in Louisville called Epic Coatings does the powder coating for me.

I juried into the Smithsonian Craft and Design show in Washington DC this past May and also I showed at the ICFF where my tables were a finalist for their Constellation Awards in the furniture collection category.

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