A segmented Ellipse coffee table

[Edwin Santos]

Thank you so much for the encouraging compliments on the table and design. I'm flattered, but honestly, I'm on the same road as everyone else, learning as I go. I've learned a lot reading this forum.

The initial idea of offsetting the segments is not mine. I learned about it from Michael Fortune, with whom I took a 2 week workshop centered around woodworking design. Where he got the idea I couldn't say because I never asked. Tapering the ash inlays and the design of the base was 100% mine, as were some aspects of the top.
A lot of what we learned with him in the design class had to do with fooling around with scrap mock ups. I'm talking about small bench top 1/4 scale models. Sometimes just taking pieces of foamcore board and cutting them up with a utility knife or on the bandsaw to play with shapes. You could use 1/4" hardboard, hot glue or whatever scrap was lying around. Even cardboard from empty Amazon boxes. Kind of like a child would do in arts/crafts class. Once we had design ideas composed on paper and in 3D models, we moved on to solving the different joinery and construction challenges. Another great source of inspiration is looking at websites of high level woodworkers. Guys like Brian Boggs, Seth Rolland, or the student gallery of the Krenov School where I've lifted a few leg design ideas. There are any number of high end furniture retailers that are worth browsing for ideas too.

I highly recommend workshops. As good as YouTube, this forum and other resources are, there is no substitute for shutting out distractions and being in a shop with a master craftsman and other motivated students. What I like to do is take lots of photos and pay attention to what everyone is doing, then come back to my shop and find different ways to implement the construction and design ideas I saw.

One example, there is a FWW article that features Michael Fortune where he makes a chair seat out of sections bandsawn to a 30" seat radius curve on a jig and then glued together to form the seat. He did it as an alternative to the typical method of coopering or vacuum forming the seat. His jig was clever because he designed it to flip around and cut a different radius on the opposite side so the part would have two different radii. I simply took that idea and used it for forming the legs on this table, thinking that the grain would have a wind swept canyon type of look.

[STEVE BARRY]

Beautiful piece all around, but I must say I really love that base.